title: Validating the empowerment scale with a multisite sample of consumers of mental health services.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Empowerment is a key aspect of recovery and a common term in the mental health field, but there are few consistent definitions or validated measures of the construct. This study conducted psychometric testing on the Empowerment Scale, a widely used measure in the field.
  
  
  METHODS
  As part of the Consumer-Operated Multi-Site study funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, consumers with a psychiatric disability were administered the Empowerment Scale along with several other scales to measure clinical status and psychosocial factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyses produced five factors with acceptable fit statistics. The total scale demonstrated excellent reliability and validity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Analyses provide additional evidence that the total Empowerment Scale score is a reliable, valid measure; subscales of the scale appear less robust. Empowerment is considered an essential factor in recovery-oriented programs and systems, and the use of psychometrically sound measures such as the Empowerment Scale therefore may be useful to evaluators.
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. erogers@bu.edu
authors.forename: E Sally
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Ruth O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Ralph
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Salzer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services; D008875:Middle Aged; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D020377:Self Efficacy; D014481:United States