Empowerment and its implications for clinical practice in mental health: A review

Powerlessness and lack of social support are key risk factors for ill health. Powerlessness is all too often experienced by those with mental health difficulties and reinforced by current health service culture. A community-based empowerment approach provides a solution to this problem. The concept of empowerment, its components and their measurement are described, as are implications for research and clinical practice. Evidence for the effectiveness of empowerment in the mental health field is reviewed and its implications for the future delivery of an improved health service are discussed.