From Experience to Evidence: A Mixed-Methods Participatory Development and Validation of the Buddy Empowerment Scale (BEmS)

Background:

Social work practice faces growing pressures to demonstrate measurable impacts that align scientific research, policy formulation, and practice implementation, particularly amidst complex societal challenges such as poverty and social exclusion. However, traditional methods of impact measurement frequently fail to capture the nuanced and transformative outcomes central to social work interventions.

Method:

This study addresses this gap by developing and validating the Buddy Empowerment Scale (BEmS), a psychometrically robust, participatory measurement instrument specifically designed to assess empowerment in buddy-based social support interventions. The BEmS is rooted in Zimmerman's psychological empowerment theory, comprising three core dimensions: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and behavioral empowerment. Employing a rigorous mixed-method approach involving Delphi panels, stakeholder consultations, and extensive quantitative validation through Principal Factor Analysis (PFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), the scale demonstrates high reliability and validity.

Results:

The BEmS captures critical empowerment dimensions such as self-efficacy, social connectedness, and active community engagement, thus providing social workers with a reliable tool for evaluating the complex, context-specific outcomes of buddy programs. By integrating academic research with the practical insights of social work practitioners, volunteers, and individuals experiencing social vulnerability, the BEmS embodies a transformative approach to impact evaluation. The participatory methodology used in its development ensures the scale's relevance to social work practices, addressing practitioners' and policymakers' needs for meaningful and actionable data.

Conclusions and Implications:

The implementation of the Buddy Empowerment Scale (BEmS) has significantly enhanced the participating organization's ability to articulate and demonstrate their impact to volunteers, funding bodies, policymakers, and communities. By actively involving stakeholders and drawing explicitly on lived experiences, the BEmS provides practitioners and policymakers with a psychometrically robust, context-sensitive, and participatory instrument. It captures and communicates empowerment outcomes as directly defined by those experiencing the interventions, thus bridging experiential and professional knowledge. As a result, the BEmS not only advances methodological rigor in social work research but also offers policymakers clear, evidence-based insights into the complex, nuanced benefits of empowerment-focused buddy interventions. Ultimately, it supports the development of informed, equitable, and impactful social policies, reinforcing social work’s critical role in facilitating meaningful societal change.