Development and application of the Family Empowerment Questionnaire in brain injury

Background: The present study was an ongoing development of a previous study of the Family Empowerment Questionnaire, which had already indicated a four-factor solution (Skill, Knowledge, Support and Aspiration) empowerment process among family caretakers for their family members with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Objective: The Family Empowerment Questionnaire was used to further explore its applicability to rehabilitation professionals through investigating differences between rehabilitation professionals' and family members' perceptions of empowerment in the rehabilitation process of persons with TBI. Method and procedures: The present study compared the 52-item Family Empowerment Questionnaire scores between 65 rehabilitation professionals with the results obtained from 211 family caretakers. Main outcome: Statistical analyses using the factor-based scores of the four sub-scales revealed that professionals and family members differ significantly in their perceptions regarding family empowerment in TBI rehabilitation in any of the four empowerment factors and within individual items of each factor. Conclusions: Specific activities in which families and professionals' perceptions differed significantly should be explored further and clinical implications of the study are discussed.