The use of ‘empowerment’ among organisations supporting victims of domestic violence in Sweden
(2015) In European Journal of Social Work 18(1). p.51-64- Abstract
- The aim of this paper is to investigate the prevalence and character of ‘empowerment’ as an approach used by women’s shelters, crime victim support groups and municipal crisis centres that provide support for battered women in Sweden. The study was based on a mail survey distributed among representatives of local crime victim support
groups and women’s shelters run by non-governmental organisations and the public sector (N = 207). The survey showed that empowerment was perceived as similar to the already established ‘help to self-help’ approach. Empowerment was described as a tool for individual change rather than collective action, although links to powersensitivity
and social change did appear in some answers. Contrary... (More) - The aim of this paper is to investigate the prevalence and character of ‘empowerment’ as an approach used by women’s shelters, crime victim support groups and municipal crisis centres that provide support for battered women in Sweden. The study was based on a mail survey distributed among representatives of local crime victim support
groups and women’s shelters run by non-governmental organisations and the public sector (N = 207). The survey showed that empowerment was perceived as similar to the already established ‘help to self-help’ approach. Empowerment was described as a tool for individual change rather than collective action, although links to powersensitivity
and social change did appear in some answers. Contrary to expectations, the use of empowerment was not accompanied by comments on problematic power relations and difficulties in merging a non-directive approach with professional responsibilities. Using neo-institutional theory, results were interpreted in relation to
established work-patterns and problems that empowerment was perceived to solve. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4022601
- author
- Helmersson, Sara LU and Jönson, Håkan LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- help to self-help, empowerment, violence against women, women’s shelters, policy translation, victim support
- in
- European Journal of Social Work
- volume
- 18
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 14 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000346340100005
- scopus:84919847869
- ISSN
- 1369-1457
- DOI
- 10.1080/13691457.2013.847403
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 5bb03102-f3cf-4dd3-b311-62dfa6a7adcc (old id 4022601)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 10:42:38
- date last changed
- 2022-01-26 01:47:09
@article{5bb03102-f3cf-4dd3-b311-62dfa6a7adcc,
abstract = {{The aim of this paper is to investigate the prevalence and character of ‘empowerment’ as an approach used by women’s shelters, crime victim support groups and municipal crisis centres that provide support for battered women in Sweden. The study was based on a mail survey distributed among representatives of local crime victim support<br/><br>
groups and women’s shelters run by non-governmental organisations and the public sector (N = 207). The survey showed that empowerment was perceived as similar to the already established ‘help to self-help’ approach. Empowerment was described as a tool for individual change rather than collective action, although links to powersensitivity<br/><br>
and social change did appear in some answers. Contrary to expectations, the use of empowerment was not accompanied by comments on problematic power relations and difficulties in merging a non-directive approach with professional responsibilities. Using neo-institutional theory, results were interpreted in relation to<br/><br>
established work-patterns and problems that empowerment was perceived to solve.}},
author = {{Helmersson, Sara and Jönson, Håkan}},
issn = {{1369-1457}},
keywords = {{help to self-help; empowerment; violence against women; women’s shelters; policy translation; victim support}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{51--64}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{European Journal of Social Work}},
title = {{The use of ‘empowerment’ among organisations supporting victims of domestic violence in Sweden}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2013.847403}},
doi = {{10.1080/13691457.2013.847403}},
volume = {{18}},
year = {{2015}},
}