Widowhood forces women to reconstruct their identities. This article discusses how this reconstruction occurs. Interviews were conducted with 65 older widows exploring their experiences: Of those, 81% spoke about identity. This reconstruction can be understood in terms of continuing bonds with the deceased, loosening bonds, and personal growth. Women discussed these transitions in four ways: pe...

BACKGROUND This study examines the reliability and validity of the Portuguese version of the Empowerment Scale (ES) to be used in the community/psychosocial mental health field. Authors also reviewed the properties of the development and cross-cultural adaptation of the ES. Because mental health services are required to encourage empowerment and recovery-oriented interventions, adequate empower...

BACKGROUND Education is one of the key elements in the promotion of a thorough paradigm for active aging. The aim of this study is to analyze factors that contribute the empowerment of older adults in a rural Mexican community and, thus, promote active aging. METHODS The study was conducted in a rural Mexican community (Valle del Mezquital), based on an action-research paradigm. One hundred a...

Many illnesses can be prevented or limited by altering personal behavior, and public health planners have turned to psychology for guidance in fostering self-protective activity. A social theory of personal action provides an integrative framework for applying psychology to public health, disclosing gaps in our current understanding of self-regulation, and generating guidelines for improving he...

BACKGROUND Individuals claiming a disability benefit after long-term sickness absence, have to undergo medical disability assessments. These assessments, often carried out by specialized physicians, can be complicated by wrong expectations or defensive attitudes of disability benefit claimants. It is hypothesized that empowerment of these claimants will enhance the physician-patient relationshi...

Methods Nurses participated in a series of 3 two hour focus groups (5–9 participants per group; 71% participated in all 3 groups). Research questions were addressed using the nominal group technique. The researcher took field notes during the focus groups. Nurses identified clients whom they thought were empowered through their practice, and consenting clients were interviewed for about 1 hour ...

For several reasons, children and youth with a disability or chronic health condition are at an increased risk of sexual abuse. Health care providers, along with parents and caregivers, need to maintain a high level of suspicion concerning possible sexual abuse of this population. Physicians especially need to advocate for policies to prevent or detect abuse in hospitals, schools and other inst...

Background: There is a relationship between diseases and the quality of life. Epilepsy is a disease that is unpredictable and uncontrollable and its actions are limited to scattered and brief education. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of family-centered empowerment program on the quality of life of mothers with epileptic children. Methods:</strong...