Scale Overview
The MOM Empowerment Scale – MOMES was developed by A. C. Kovach, J. Becker, & H. Worley (2004). It is designed to measure Empowerment. The scale is intended for use with Low-income women and mothers of young children.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 20 items organized into 3 factors/subscales: Self-Sufficiency, Self-Determination, Decision-Making.
| Factor / Subscale |
Items |
N |
| Self-Sufficiency |
2,3,4,11,15,16,17,18,19,20 |
10 |
| Self-Determination |
9,10,12,14 |
4 |
| Decision-Making |
1,5,6,7,8,13 |
6 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = Strongly Disagree / Very Hard / Unable / Not Very Confident, 2 = Disagree / Somewhat Hard / Meet Few Needs / A Little Confident, 3 = Neither / Neither Hard nor Easy / Meet Some Needs / Somewhat Confident, 4 = Agree / Somewhat Easy / Meet Most Needs / Very Confident, 5 = Strongly Agree / Very Easy / Meet All Needs / Extremely Confident.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 20 to 100. Interpretation guidelines:
- Low Empowerment: 20 – 50
- Moderate Empowerment: 51 – 80
- High Empowerment: 81 – 100
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Self-Sufficiency alpha: 0.87, Self-Determination alpha: 0.83, Decision-Making alpha: 0.77.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 8 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.