Development of a Scale to Measure the Empowerment of Youth Consumers of Mental Health Services

Abstract

Within the field of children’s mental health, there is increasing emphasis on the idea that young people who experience mental health difficulties should be encouraged to take an active role in shaping not only their own treatment but also mental health services and systems. The terms empowerment and, to a lesser extent, self-efficacy have been used to describe consumers’ confidence and capacity for taking on this active role. Measures of mental health empowerment and self-efficacy have been developed for adults with mental illnesses and for parents and caregivers of children with serious emotional or behavioral disorders; however, no such measure exists to assess empowerment among youth who themselves experience serious mental health difficulties. This article describes the development of the Youth Empowerment Scale—Mental Health and provides initial evidence of its reliability and validity.