Empowerment of Home Health Care Case Managers
1*Adjunct Assistant Professor and Advisor for Geriatric Health and Wellness, Sacred Heart University College
of Nursing, Fairfield, CT
2Professor, Oakland University
3Director RN-BSN/MSN Program, Sacred Heart University College of Nursing, Fairfield, CT.
Linda Basso Melodia, Barbara Penprase, Linda L. Strong “Empowerment of Home Health Care
Case Managers”. American Research Journal of Nursing. 2017;3(1):1-7.
Abstract
Background: Job satisfaction and feelings of empowerment positively impact home health care nurses by
improving patient safety and patient outcomes. The project objective determined whether an empowerment
educational module improved the feelings of empowerment and job satisfaction of registered nurses at a home
health care agency.
Methods: A quantitative, pre-test/post-test research study was conducted to measure the success of an
empowerment educational module. Laschinger’s (2008) Nursing Worklife questionnaire was administered to
92 participating nurses, 46 were assigned to an experimental group and 46 were assigned to a control group.
Participants in the experimental group were queried about their perceptions towards empowerment in home
health care environments and their reactions towards the teaching module.
Results: The educational module did not significantly impact the participants’ sense of empowerment and
seemed to weaken the empowerment at times, albeit in statistically insignificant numbers. Six themes emerged
from this discussion.
