Authors: Wiggins, Noelle¹; Johnson, Denise; Avila, Maria²; Farquhar, Stephanie³; Michael, Yvonne⁴; Rios, Teresa¹; Lopez, Alicia

Source: Critical Public Health, Volume 19, Number 1, March 2009 , pp. 11-22(12)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract:

Empowerment has been advanced as a strategy for eliminating remaining health disparities. Popular education promotes community empowerment by increasing individuals' and communities' awareness of their capacity and providing a framework and strategies through which participants can identify and resolve problems. Poder es Salud/Power for Health, a community-based participatory research project, sought to improve health and decrease disparities in African American and Latino communities in Multnomah County, Oregon, through the intervention of Community Health Workers (CHWs) who used popular education. In-depth interviews were conducted with five CHWs involved in the project to explore their perceptions of the effects of the use of popular education on the CHWs and their communities. Results suggested that CHWs possessed a shared understanding of popular education. Effects on the CHWs included increases in community participation and identification, desire to advocate for the community, and sense of personal potential. Similarly, among communities, CHWs observed increases in level of participation in community events, quality and quantity of leadership, and sense of community solidarity. These results suggest that popular education, when used consistently throughout a health promotion program, can promote empowerment and thus contribute to eliminating health disparities.

Keywords: empowerment; health inequalities; community

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09581590802375855

Affiliations: 1: Multnomah County Health Department, Community Capacitation Center, Portland, Oregon, USA 2: Parish Health Promoter Program, Providence Health and Services and El Programa Hispano, Oregon, USA 3: School of Community Health, College of Urban and Public Affairs, Portland State University, Oregon, USA 4: Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Oregon, USA

Publication date: 2009-03-01

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