MOM Empowerment Scale (MOMES)

Abstract

The MOM Empowerment Scale (MOMES) is a 20-item psychometric instrument developed by Kovach, Becker, and Worley in 2004. It is specifically designed to measure perceived levels of empowerment among vulnerable populations, particularly low-income women and mothers of young children. The scale assesses three core psychological dimensions critical for personal agency and effective resource utilization: Self-Determination, Self-Sufficiency, and Decision-Making skills. MOMES is primarily utilized in community psychology and public health research to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, such as those delivered by Community Health Workers (CHWs), in promoting self-management and access to essential services.

Keywords

MOMES, Empowerment, Self-Sufficiency, Self-Determination, Decision-Making, Low-income women, Community Health Workers, Psychometric scale, Maternal health.

Authors

Kovach, A. C., Becker, J., Worley, H.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the MOM Empowerment Scale (MOMES) is to provide a quantitative measure of changes in personal agency and resource acquisition capabilities following community or clinical interventions. It allows researchers and practitioners to objectively assess how effectively programs help low-income mothers navigate complex systems, utilize community resources, and take control of their health and family decisions.

The scale focuses specifically on measuring the perceived ability to manage daily tasks, set and achieve personal goals, and interact competently with health care and community support systems. Its structure allows for targeted analysis, identifying specific areas—such as confidence in making medical decisions or ability to secure social support—where intervention success is most pronounced.

Construct

The MOMES operationalizes the construct of personal empowerment as a tripartite structure composed of three distinct sub-constructs:

• Self-Sufficiency (SS): This dimension measures the perceived ability to meet personal and familial needs, including accessing information and obtaining practical help (e.g., household chores, transportation, external resources).

• Self-Determination (SD): This construct aligns with the principles of Self-Determination, assessing the individual’s capacity to set meaningful goals for themselves and exhibit the follow-through necessary to achieve those goals.

• Decision-Making Skills (DM): This subscale evaluates the comfort and confidence level in processing information, particularly from health care professionals, listening to differing opinions, and taking responsibility for personal choices based on the information received.

Validity

While detailed reports on specific types of validity (e.g., convergent or criterion validity) are typically found in the original research article, the theoretical structure of the MOMES demonstrates strong face and construct validity. The development of the scale was rooted in established literature concerning personal agency and empowerment mechanisms relevant to vulnerable populations.

Its successful inclusion in major reference sourcebooks for psychological measures (such as Fischer & Corcoran, 2007) supports its acceptance as a relevant and appropriate instrument for measuring clinical outcomes related to self-management and social support utilization in community settings.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the MOMES was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha ($alpha$) coefficients for its three subscales. The reported values indicate strong to acceptable levels of reliability, confirming that the items within each subscale are highly correlated and reliably measure the intended construct.

The reported internal consistency reliability coefficients are:

• Self-Sufficiency (SS): $alpha$ = 0.87

• Self-Determination (SD): $alpha$ = 0.83

• Decision-Making Skills (DM): $alpha$ = 0.77

These values meet or exceed the standard thresholds used in psychometrics, confirming the instrument’s stability and reliability for repeated use, especially when evaluating program effectiveness over time.

Factor Analysis

Factor analysis performed during the scale’s development confirmed the hypothesized multi-dimensional structure. The analysis yielded three principal factors: Self-Sufficiency, Self-Determination, and Decision-Making skills. This finding provides empirical support for the theoretical model that empowerment is not a monolithic construct but rather a synergy of distinct, measurable abilities.

The clear factor loading pattern allows researchers to calculate subscale scores, which is crucial for identifying targeted areas of impact. For instance, an intervention might significantly boost a mother’s confidence in accessing information (DM) without immediately affecting her ability to follow through on long-term goals (SD).

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological scale.

Format: 20 items utilizing various 5-point Likert-type response scales. Response formats vary between agreement scales (e.g., Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree), ease-of-making scales (e.g., Very hard to make to Very easy to make), and confidence scales (e.g., Not very confident to Extremely confident).

Language Available: English (Original development language).

Population Group: Clinical and community populations; specifically, mothers and women in vulnerable situations.

Age Group: Adults (Mothers of young children).

Population Details: Validated primarily on low-income women and mothers receiving support through community health initiatives, often involving Community Health Workers.

Test Methodology: The scale asks respondents to rate their agreement or confidence regarding their ability to acquire resources, make informed choices, and set and pursue goals.

Keywords

Maternal health, Self-management, Goal setting, Resource utilization, Psychometric assessment, Community intervention, Low-income mothers.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (Likely correspondence or distribution contact).

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 2004.

Permissions and Fees: The scale has been formally published in academic sourcebooks. Researchers interested in using the scale should consult the primary reference texts (Kovach et al., 2004; Fischer & Corcoran, 2007) and potentially contact the corresponding author for current usage permissions and any associated fees.

Reference’s

• Kovach, A. C., Becker, J., & Worley, H. (2004). The impact of community health workers on the self-determination, self-sufficiency, and decision-making ability of low-income women and mothers of young children. Journal of Community Psychology, 32(3), 343-356.

• Kovach, A. C., Becker, J., & Worley, H. (2004). MOM Empowerment Scale (MOMES). IN Fischer, Joel., Corcoran, Kevin J. (2007). Measures for Clinical Practice and research: A sourcebook. (4th ed.). NY: Oxford University Pr. Vol. 1, Page(s): 366-370.

• Pandit, Mayuri. (2013). “Study of Brief Single Session Medical Family Therapy with Low-Income Patients”. Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects. 142. Available online: http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/142

• The instrument text is also available in an academic repository: http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1141&context=etd

Items of the MOM Empowerment Scale (MOMES)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. I was willing to listen to different opinions. (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree Strongly, Agree)

2. I could get information from community resources. (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree Strongly, Agree)

3. I could get information from my doctor or nurse. (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree Strongly, Agree)

4. I could understand the information I received from my doctor or nurse. (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree Strongly, Agree)

5. I could make choices based on the information I received. (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree Strongly, Agree)

6. I could take responsibility for the decisions I made. (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree Strongly, Agree)

7. Decisions about my life were: (Very hard to make, Somewhat hard to make, Neither hard nor easy, Somewhat easy to make, Very easy to make)

8. I was comfortable with most of my decisions. (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree Strongly, Agree)

9. I was able to set goals for myself. (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree Strongly, Agree)

10. I was able to follow through on the goals I set. (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree Strongly, Agree)

11. I would describe my ability to take care of my needs as: (Unable to meet my needs, Meet a few of my needs, Meet some of my needs, Meet most of my needs, Meet all of my needs)

How confident are you that you could:

12. Define your own needs? (Not very confident, A little confident, Somewhat confident, Very confident, Extremely confident)

13. Decide what to do based on your needs? (Not very confident, A little confident, Somewhat confident, Very confident, Extremely confident)

14. Act on the decisions you made based on your needs? (Not very confident, A little confident, Somewhat confident, Very confident, Extremely confident)

15. Take care of your needs on a daily basis? (Not very confident, A little confident, Somewhat confident, Very confident, Extremely confident)

16. Get family and friends to help you with things you need? (such as household chores and transportation) (Not very confident, A little confident, Somewhat confident, Very confident, Extremely confident)

17. Get help with daily tasks from outside resources? (any group other than family and friends) (Not very confident, A little confident, Somewhat confident, Very confident, Extremely confident)

18. Get emotional support from family and friends? (such as listening or talking over problems) (Not very confident, A little confident, Somewhat confident, Very confident, Extremely confident)

19. Talk about personal problems with your health care professionals? (Not very confident, A little confident, Somewhat confident, Very confident, Extremely confident)

20. Do the daily tasks and activities necessary to take care of yourself and your family? (Not very confident, A little confident, Somewhat confident, Very confident, Extremely confident)