COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT PARADIGM DRIFT AND THE PRIMARY PREVENTION OF HIV AIDS/

Long discussed in the public health arena, the concept of empowerment has only recently entered the discourse on the primary prevention of H IV/AIDS in the United States. Despite its broad appeal, empowerment ha s not been systematically incorporated into theory-based interventions , which may reflect a lack of consensus on the meaning of empowerment, how to measure it, and the intervention strategies it implies. The pu rpose of this paper is to consider the relevance of empowerment to com munity interventions for persons at risk for HIV, particularly women. The origins of empowerment are reviewed; community empowerment as an i ntervention framework is described and its core assumptions defined. T here is some evidence of the growing influence of empowerment and rela ted concepts in recent HIV-related policy, research, and programs fund ed through the; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, a doption of an empowerment framework for HIV prevention will require fu rther theory and measurement development, as well as changes in bow pu blic health researchers and practitioners work with the communities th ey serve. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.