Community Empowerment: Concept and Applications in Community Practitioner Nursing Practice
Keywords:
Community empowerment, Community nurse practitionerAbstract
Community empowerment is the major basis of sustainable community development and the key success factors of health promotion in public health service system. This article aimed to review concept, meaning, operational activities, and application in community nursingpractice. Community empowerment was recognized as process and outcomes. The mains characteristics was 1) systematic analytic thinking, 2) collaborative action, 3) and maintaining and cooperative expanding. Public forum is a significant tool in empowerment process that focus on participatory learning, listening, dialogue, experience sharing and opinion, respectfulness, agreement and commitment of people. The measurable outcomes were sense of community, collaborative planning, decision-making, and health problem reduction. Community nurse practitioners should apply community empowermentconcept as facilitator and health promotion project managerfor sustainable community health system development.
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