An innovative concept mapping of the empowerment construct in dialogue with older people.

Empowerment has a central position in social work and services for older people. It gives meaning and provides a framework for a value orientation in which people gain or maintain control over decisions and actions affecting their health in relation to their process of aging. Measurements in this regard help to understand how empowerment manifests and comes about in social work. Operationalizing empowerment from the perspective of the target population is important to align with context specific interpretations of what empowerment means. This study aims at operationalizing psychological empowerment from the perspective of older persons in a systematic manner and in a way that gives voice to and creates opportunities for an empowering experience for these older persons. A design was chosen that is based on the concept mapping method, though tailored to accommodate the specific principles we assume in empowerment research and to align with target specific conditions that come to play with older persons. Three group sessions were conducted and a total of 28 older people participated. The results show an operationalisation of empowerment from the perspective of older people, with 58 statements divided over four components of empowerment; emotional, cognitive, relational and behavioural component. The context specific conceptualisation and operationalisation of empowerment that submerges, offers a helpful tool for social workers and the chosen methods seems to allow research participants to have empowering experiences by contributing.