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Empowerment is core to health promotion; however, there is a lack of consensus in the wider literature as to how to define it and at what level it may occur. Definitional inconsistency inevitably leads to challenges in measuring empowerment; yet if it is as important as is claimed, this must be addressed. This paper discusses the complexities of measuring empowerment and puts forward a number of recommendations for researchers and policy makers as to how this can be achieved noting some of the tensions that may arise between theoretical considerations, research and practice. We argue that empowerment is a culturally and socially defined construct and that this should be taken into account in attempts to measure it. Finally we conclude that, in order to build up the evidence base for empowerment, there is a need for research clearly defining what it is and how it is being measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much attention has been given in recent years to involving community members in research within a number of fields including community development. Indeed, there is a large amount of literature outlining what this process involves and describes the benefits and problems of doing such research across a range of contexts. There has also been some discussion of the different approaches that can be applied under the umbrella of community-based research and their relationship to the outcomes associated with both successful and positive community development. Yet very little attention has been paid to the actual experiences of these lay researchers involved in community-based research in relation to their roles. The nature of the researcher's role as work thus requires critical consideration. This article examines the role of lay researchers within four different approaches to community-based research used for the development of community action plans within the Objective 1, South Yorkshire context. This article reports upon differential roles and types of work in relation to both experiences and outcomes. The article, therefore, addresses what these different researcher roles tell us about community-based research and outlines the implications in relation to community development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]