title: Associations between family characteristics and parental empowerment in the family, family service situations and the family service system.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Parental empowerment signifies parents' sense of confidence in managing their children, interacting with services that their children use and improving child care services. High empowerment is associated with parents' resilience to demands and their confidence to make decisions and take actions that positively affect their families. Most families with children access various healthcare and education services. Professionals working in these services are therefore ideally placed to reinforce parental empowerment. However, little is known about the characteristics associated with parental empowerment within a generic sample of parents or in the context of basic child care services.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess how family characteristics are associated with maternal and paternal empowerment in the family, in service situations and in the service system.
  
  
  METHODS
  Parental empowerment was measured among 955 parents (mothers = 571; fathers = 384) of children aged 0-9 years using the Generic Family Empowerment Scale. Family characteristics were assessed through questions on children, parents and the life situation. Associations between empowerment and family characteristics were evaluated using one-way analysis of variance and t-test. Parental empowerment was predicted by multiple linear regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parents' concerns related to their parenting, such as whether they possessed sufficient skills as a parent or losing their temper with children, as well as experiences of stress in everyday life, were negatively associated with all dimensions of maternal and paternal empowerment. Both determinants were more common and more significant in empowerment than child-related problems.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Promoting parental self-confidence and providing appropriate emotional and concrete support for everyday functioning may reinforce parental empowerment, thereby enhancing families' well-being and coping, as well as improving their access to required services and timely support. Finally, it may facilitate the provision of better services to all families.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, Nursing Science, Finnish Post-Graduate School in Nursing Science, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vuorenmaa
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: M-L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Perälä
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Halme
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, Nursing Science, Pirkanmaa Hospital District, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaunonen
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, Nursing Science, Pirkanmaa Hospital District, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Åstedt-Kurki
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000592:standards; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000592:standards; D010819:Physician's Role; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011788:Quality of Life; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological
keywords: empowerment; family; parents