 |
| Research article summary (published 30 Oct 2002): |
Empowering practitioners: an unrealistic expectation of nurse education?
Full Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Empowerment has become an increasingly popular theme in nurse education. This is evident from the growing number of courses that claim to enable nurses to become empowered. However, this is taking place in an environment with little critical debate about the assumptions and implications for educators and students. Consequently there is a risk of creating hegemony and regimes of truth.
AIM:
This paper sets out to review critically existing discourses on empowerment and to suggest a more reflexive and realistic view.
THEMES:
The origins of empowerment are established, together with its relationship to professional education. There is a review of the nature of power and autonomy, followed by an examination of the effects of expectations of empowering practice on educators and students. The lack of reflexivity in notions of empowerment is discussed. Consideration is given to the possibility of rehabilitating empowerment by offering an alternative conception that is realistic and reflexive.
CONCLUSIONS:
Conclusions are drawn to suggest that although much of the writing on empowerment in education is insufficiently self-critical and consequently is open to censure, ideas of empowerment should not be rejected completely:
they may serve to stimulate educators (and their students as future practitioners) to connect with and challenge society.
Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills
Author information
Author/s: Leyshon, Stephen (S);
Affiliation: Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King's College London, London, UK. stephen.leyshon(-atsign-)kcl.ac.uk
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article; Review
Journal: Journal of advanced nursing (J Adv Nurs), published in England. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2002-Nov; vol 40 (issue 4) : pp 466-74
Dates: Created 2002/11/07; Completed 2002/12/20; Revised 2005/11/16;
PMID: 12421406, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):
Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.
This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.
MeSH headings (categories)
This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.
|
Related articles
This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.
See a large map of 100+ related articles.