title: Empowerment and occupational engagement among people with psychiatric disabilities.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Empowerment is essential in the rehabilitation process for people with psychiatric disabilities and knowledge about factors that may play a key role within this process would be valuable for further development of the day centre services.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study investigates day centre attendees' perceptions of empowerment. The aim was to investigate which factors show the strongest relationships to empowerment when considering occupational engagement, client satisfaction with day centres, and health-related and socio-demographic factors as correlates.
  
  
  METHODS
  123 Swedish day centre attendees participated in a cross-sectional study by completing questionnaires regarding empowerment and the targeted correlates. Data were analysed with non-parametric statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Empowerment was shown to be significantly correlated with occupational engagement and client satisfaction and also with self-rated health and symptoms rated by a research assistant. The strongest indicator for belonging to the group with the highest ratings on empowerment was self-rated health, followed by occupational engagement and symptom severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Occupational engagement added to the beneficial influence of self-rated health on empowerment. Enabling occupational engagement in meaningful activities and providing occupations that can generate client satisfaction is an important focus for day centres in order to assist the attendees' rehabilitation process so that it promotes empowerment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science, Lund University , Sweden.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hultqvist
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eklund
authors.forename: Christel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leufstadius
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003155:Community Mental Health Centers; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009788:Occupational Therapy; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014937:Work / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: community mental health; day centres; occupational therapy; psychiatric rehabilitation