Sense of clubhouse community belonging and empowerment.

BACKGROUND: While the neighborhood community literature well documents a link between participation in supportive and effective community groups or activities and empowerment, there is as yet little empirical evidence of this relationship in the context of community mental health programs.

AIM: The primary purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between sense of community belonging and empowerment among members of mental health clubhouses.

METHODS: A secondary analysis using a hierarchical regression model was conducted on cross-sectional structured interview data collected through a self-report questionnaire from 102 clubhouse members from six clubhouses in the United States and Finland.

RESULTS: The results indicated that members' sense of clubhouse community belonging positively contributes to their empowerment.

CONCLUSION: Fostering sense of community belonging appears to be a valid approach to catalyze empowerment. Study limitations and future research agendas were discussed.