Does Cultural Conceptualisation of Empowerment Matter in Mental Health Promotion? Insights From the Linking Hearts Project

ABSTRACT

Empowerment has been applied as conceptual guidance for mental health promotion since the 1970s. Evidence from decades of cross‐cultural research has established that empowerment is a socially and culturally constituted construct whose mechanisms vary across different social, political and institutional contexts. However, how these variations shape implementation in practice, particularly in non‐Western settings with distinctive socio‐political configurations such as China, remains insufficiently examined. Drawing on the results of a transnational implementation research project between Canada and China, we examined how psychological empowerment is experienced in an intervention project designed for Chinese university mental health service providers. Through an analysis of focus group data and participant post‐training activity logs, we uncovered the unique nuances in how participants experienced empowerment during and after taking part in the ACE‐LYNX mental health intervention. We found that their experience of empowerment was intertwined with Chinese cultural values and the institutional features of Chinese universities. Three themes (relational reflection, moderate criticism and domestic engagement) were identified to show how the intrapersonal, interactional and behavioural components of empowerment are locally engaged at the individual level. This paper illustrates how sociocultural factors interweave with empowerment concepts and contributes to a context‐rich understanding of empowerment‐based mental health interventions.