Empowerment scales for inpatients have been developed worldwide, but their validity and reliability have not been adequately tested and applied to the health promotion and care among older adults during hospitalization. In this study, the Patient Empowerment Scale developed by Faulkner was translated into Japanese, and Japanese patients were surveyed to test its clinical applicability. To test its applicability, 151 patients in rehabilitation wards were surveyed in four municipalities. After considering ceiling/floor effects and validating the structure, the Patient Empowerment Scale—Japanese comprised 37 items and six factors: subject–staff interaction, environmental adjustment through collaboration, necessary information gathering and problem awareness, proactive behavioral practices, self-disclosure, and self-management of activities. Criteria-related validity assessment confirmed the scale’s correlation with the Health Locus of Control Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, 13-item Sense of Coherence Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale. Regarding internal consistency, the Cronbach’s alpha was 0.93 for all 37 items. The Cronbach’s alphas for the six factors were 0.93, 0.91, 0.92, 0.92, 0.91, and 0.75, respectively. In our test/re-test of reliability, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient between the first and second total scores was ρ = 0.96, p < 0.01. These results confirm the scale’s validity and reliability, and its applicability to older hospitalized patients.

In the present study, 151 Japanese older adults aged over 65 years and admitted to recovery-phase rehabilitation facilities were enrolled to investigate the relationship between empowerment and contextual factors, functioning and disability, with structural equation modeling (SEM). The analysis included 151 patients aged 81.75 ± 7.15 years, including 54 males (35.76%) and 97 females (64.24%). The results of the SEM analysis showed that role presence (β = 0.45, p < 0.01) and family structure (β = 0.18, p = 0.02) significantly impacted empowerment. In addition, the results showed that patient empowerment positively impacted physical activity (β = 0.25, p < 0.01) and psychosomatic functions and abilities (β = 0.36, p < 0.01). Furthermore, the goodness-of-fit of the model hypothesized in this study was shown to have explanatory power. This study showed that empowerment contributed to the prevention of physical inactivity and confinement among Japanese older patients. In other words, the study provided evidence for the importance of empowerment-based program planning in the practice of person-centered care aimed at promoting the health and discharge of older patients in Japan.