ADVOCACY AND EMPOWERMENT - DICHOTOMOUS OR SYNCHRONOUS CONCEPTS

An examination of the concept of advocacy in the nursing literature re flects diverse and sometimes conflicting usage. It may denote a set of behaviors not associated with any specific ethical basis, an approach grounded in a justice ethics, or a philosophical basis for nursing. A lthough some conceptualizations of advocacy are incongruent with empow erment, others that reflect an existential, relational ethics are inde ed synchronous with empowerment. Furthermore, the centrality of mutual ity and the nurse-patient relationship to both advocacy and a unitary- transformative approach to caring is consistent with the conditions un der which empowerment can occur.