THE PROCESS OF EMPOWERMENT IN MOTHERS OF CHRONICALLY ILL CHILDREN

As a result of advances in scientific knowledge and technology, the nu mber of children living with chronic illness is ever increasing. The b urden of responsibility for the care of these children falls increasin gly on the involved parents and, particularly, on mothers. In spite of the challenges that chronic childhood illness presents, many families are able to adapt to their situation and develop a sense of control o ver their lives. A sense of control has been associated with the notio n of empowerment. Following a theoretical analysis, empowerment was co nceptualized as a social process of recognizing, promoting and enhanci ng people's abilities to meet their own needs, solve their own problem s, and mobilize the necessary resources in order to feel in control of their own lives. To understand the concept of empowerment from an emp irical perspective, a fieldwork study was undertaken to describe the p rocess of empowerment as it pertains to mothers of chronically ill chi ldren. This paper presents the process of empowerment that occurred in these mothers. Four components of the process of empowerment emerged: discovering reality, critical reflection, taking charge, and holding on. As a result of the study, empowerment was reconceptualized as larg ely a personal process in which individuals developed and employed the necessary knowledge, competence and confidence for making their voice s heard. Participatory competence - the ability to be heard by those i n power - was the outcome of this process. Although the unique finding in this study suggests that the process of empowerment was largely in trapersonal, there was a relational element in the process. Clearly, t he intrapersonal and interpersonal processes of empowerment are intert wined.