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. 2014 Dec;37(4):277-283.
doi: 10.1037/prj0000069. Epub 2014 Jun 2.

Measurement equivalence of the Empowerment Scale for White and Black persons with severe mental illness

Scott B Morris  1 , Jialin Huang  1 , Lei Zhao  2 , Jessica D Sergent  1 , Jonas Neuhengen  1
Affiliations

Measurement equivalence of the Empowerment Scale for White and Black persons with severe mental illness

Scott B Morris et al. Psychiatr Rehabil J. 2014 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: The current study examined the measurement equivalence on a measure of personal empowerment for Black and White consumers of mental health services.

Method: Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess measurement equivalence of the 28-item Empowerment Scale (Rogers, Chamberlin, Ellison, & Crean, 1997), using data from 1,035 White and 301 Black persons with severe mental illness.

Results: Metric invariance of the Empowerment Scale was supported, in that the factor structure and loadings were equivalent across groups. Scalar invariance was violated on 3 items; however, the impact of these items on scale scores was quite small. Finally, subscales of empowerment tended to be more highly intercorrelated for Black than for White respondents.

Conclusions and implications for practice: RESULTS generally support the use of Empowerment Scale for ethnic group comparisons. However, subtle differences in the psychometric properties of this measure suggest that Black and White individuals may conceptualize the construct of empowerment in different ways. Specifically, Black respondents had a lower threshold for endorsing some items on the self-esteem and powerlessness dimensions. Further, White respondents viewed the 3 dimensions of empowerment (self-esteem, powerlessness, and activism) as more distinct, whereas these 3 traits were more strongly interrelated for Blacks.

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