Do Empowerment Strategies Facilitate Knowledge and Behavioral Change? The Impact of Family Health Advocacy on Health Outcomes

Abstract

This study evaluates the impact of a Family Health Advocacy (FHA) intervention on 46 African American women ages 13 to 35 living in a rural southern community. FHA utilizes empowerment strategies to provide education and social support to reduce risk factors for poor pregnancy outcomes. Use of a paired t test demonstrated a statistically significant difference between pretest and posttest scores in the acquisition of knowledge of safer sex practices, alcohol consumption, early prenatal care, maternal infection, and nutrition. Behavioral change was not realized in the areas of nutrition or behaviors that cause risk of maternal infection. Social workers can influence behavioral change for at-risk populations by addressing microlevel barriers such as education and resources and macrolevel barriers such as advocacy for expanded health and social services.

A systematic review on empowerment for healthy nutrition in health promotion

“…physical activity, screen-related behaviour of children), one of which being healthy nutrition. Except for the study by Baffour and Chonody (28) , the quantitative studies revealed significant improvements in nutrition-related (parenting) behaviour to varying extents due to the intervention. Both Backman et al (20) and Jurkowski et al (31) assessed empowerment as an outcome in their studies.…”

“…1). Table 1 provides an overview of the main characteristics of the eight included studies (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31) . All studies were performed in Anglophone or Scandinavian countries within the last two decades.…”

“…In the five (quasi-) experimental intervention studies, different aspects of participants' nutrition behaviour was assessed as one of the outcomes. The indicators for nutrition behaviour ranged from detailed information on nutrient intake (22) to single-item measures (28) . Additionally, two studies (the ones by Backman et al and Jurkowski et al (20,31) ) measured participants' empowerment as an intervention outcome and/or mediator on intervention outcome.…”

“…The only exceptions were the studies by Travers (26) and Jurkowski et al (31) ; they provided extensive (28) An innovative way to think about social problems; an approach to strengthening and empowering families and communities so that they can foster the optimal development…”

“…As far as the other included studies are concerned, we would have expected to learn more about how the goal of enabling people to take control over their lives was achieved in the specific intervention measures or what made the particular intervention an empowerment intervention. Unfortunately, due to incomplete or imprecise reporting, it was frequently unclear how the theoretical description of empowerment corresponded to the implemented measures in the practical intervention projects (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)28) .…”