Applying Empowerment Theory to a Topic and Population

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Empowerment theory is appropriate to use when a social worker engages with a marginalized population. A population may feel marginalized because of a perceived lack of control over their lives. They may feel that they have a limited voice or sense of power because they are seen negatively by society merely because of their membership in a particular social group (e.g., gay, lesbian, poor, racial minority, or differently abled).

One way that social workers share research—on marginalized populations and others—is through organizational conferences and meetings. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) sponsors the Annual Program Meeting (APM), where social work educators from all over the United States convene every year. The APM offers several types of sessions, and one of them is a poster presentation. During this session, viewers walk through the exhibit hall and interact with the presenters who are standing by their posters.

For this Assignment, imagine that your poster has been accepted and that you will be presenting it in the exhibit hall. Your poster presentation is based on your potential doctoral capstone topic and on a marginalized population. Because of the population, you are using empowerment theory to frame your topic.

To prepare:

  • Review this article from the Learning Resources: “Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation” by Erren and Bourne.
  • For samples or templates of poster presentations, browse the website noted in the Learning Resources.
  • Locate an empirical research article in the library about your topic or problem and a marginalized population.

Your poster presentation should include the following:

  • In bullet points, summarize the basic assumptions of empowerment theory.
  • Identify the key concepts or terms associated with empowerment theory.
  • Based on the article you located, summarize in three bullet points the major issues associated with the topic and population.
  • In bullet points, describe how empowerment theory explains the cause of the problem in the targeted population (for example, child abuse among poor racial minority groups).
  • Explain how change occurs to rectify the problem from the perspective of empowerment theory for this targeted population.
  • Describe two interventions (from a day-to-day social work practice perspective or a policy perspective) that address this problem and that align with empowerment theory. Provide evidence from peer-reviewed journals or other scholarly resources to support the use of the recommended interventions with this population and problem.
  • Evaluate one strength and one limitation in using empowerment theory to analyze the problem for this targeted population.