Power and empowerment: Critical concepts in the nurse–client relationship

Abstract

Two key concepts in health promotion within the nurse–client relationship are power and empowerment. Theorists and researchers have not achieved consensus on how they are to be defined and addressed. However, both power and empowerment are recognized to occur at macro and micro levels, and as such need to be addressed at each level. Using a critical nursing perspective, this article explores these concepts – it identifies concerns that arise around power and risks that arise in empowerment practice. Nurses are challenged to develop a new way of seeing empowerment practice, and encouraged to focus on ‘being with’ clients, rather than ‘doing to’ them.

Key Words:

• power
• empowerment
• interpersonal relationships
• nurse–patient relations
• critical theory
• nursing practice