Community empowerment assessment in a school of the north of Portugal: a qualitative study

Purpose: Identify the level of community empowerment in the school community integrated into the national school health program in the north of Portugal Theory: Community Assessment, Intervention and Empowerment Model developed by Melo, allows a Systematized decision-making in community health nursing that promotes community empowerment as a process and a result of nursing care. In order to evaluate the level of community empowerment, Laverack developed the Empowerment Assessment Rated Scale, that measures de level of empowerment in nine domains. Methods: Qualitative study, that involved the translation to Portuguese and cultural validation of EARS and a focus group with a school community of teachers, form a professional school from the north region of Portugal, to evaluate the perception of empowerment of its community using the translated scale. Findings: It was possible to identify the level of empowerment of this school community in the nine domains of empowerment, related to a school health project developed in an health center of North Region Health Administration. Discussion: We conclude that the EARS is a useful instrument to evaluate community empowerment before and after the use of Community Assessment, Intervention and Empowerment Model in the context of school health.