Factors that develop a sense of empowerment : the experiences of community health workers

Abstract

The introduction of community health workers has become important to the delivery healthcare services to communities. Thus, their role and impact on the well-being of the communities they serve as well as their own, has been of interest to researchers. Consequently, one of the themes among literature on community health workers, is on the challenges that they face, including disempowerment. Empowerment is a construct common to community psychology. From the available literature on community health workers, it is unclear what makes them feel empowered. To date, scant South African research is available that could shed light on the factors that develop community health workers’ sense of empowerment. To assist in filling this void, this qualitative study was conducted to explore, through their experiences, the factors that develop community health worker’s sense of empowerment. Data was collected through individual semi-structured interviews with four participants selected through purposive sampling. Experiential thematic analysis was used to identify themes in the data. Five main themes reflected the factors the participants regarded as empowering: their individual factors; their opportunity to acquire new skills, knowledge, and information; having effective support systems; the interactions between them and their community; and factors from their organisations. These findings were noteworthy and have implications for organisations employing CHWs, community psychologists, and other professions that work closely with CHWs.