MEASURING EMPOWERMENT IN CLIENT-RUN SELF-HELP AGENCIES

''Empowerment'' connotes a process of gaining control over one's life and influencing the organizational and societal structures in which on e lives. This study defines and validates three measures: the Personal Empowerment Scale, the Organizational Empowerment Scale, and the Extr a-Organizational Empowerment Scale. Measurement efforts are based on o bservational work, baseline interviews (N = 310), and six month follow -ups (N = 241) in four client-run self-help agencies (SHAs) for person s with severe mental disabilities. All three study scales demonstrated strong internal consistency and stability. They were sensitive to use r changes over time and have construct validity.1