Family Empowerment: A Nursing Intervention With Suggested Outcomes for Families of Children With a Chronic Health Condition

Abstract

Families of children with a chronic health condition often feel powerless in satisfying the health care needs of their child and in sustaining their family life. A small body of scholarly literature suggests that family empowerment is an intervention that nurses could use to help these families. This interactive intervention is designed to aid families through the empowerment process, which consists of phases that correspond to the amount of trust and decision making a family shares with health professionals. Intervention activities are based on the assumption that all people have existing strengths and capabilities and the capacity to grow and become more competent. Suggested family outcomes of the intervention include negotiation with health professionals, minimization of the effect of the chronic condition on the child and siblings, rearrangement of family roles and responsibilities, satisfaction of the health care needs of the child, and lowered health care use and costs.