Community Empowerment Assessment and Community Nursing Diagnosis for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in the Northern Region of the Portuguese Atlantic Coast: A Mixed-Methods Study Using MAIEC Framework

Abstract

The Community Intervention and Empowerment Assessment Model (MAIEC) offers a framework for community empowerment in several fields such as Climate Change (CC), the largest health emergency crisis globally, through diagnosis and interventions in Community Health Nursing. This study aims to assess the level of community empowerment in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and to identify nursing diagnosis through the MAIEC clinical decision matrix, within a local intermunicipal association in the northern region of the Portuguese Atlantic Coast. A convergent mixed-methods design was used, applying a focus group technique to a purposive sampling of ten key stakeholders of this community. A Portuguese version of the Empowerment Assessment Rating Scale and a questionnaire were both applied to the same participants, and qualitative and quantitative data generated were analysed using a content analysis technique and an Excel database sheet created using Microsoft Office 365. The analysis of the Portuguese northern community exposed: a low level of community empowerment for mitigation and adaptation to climate change; a nursing diagnosis of community management impairments in several dimensions, such as community process, community participation and community leadership. However, the study confirmed that MAIEC contributed to future community-based solutions, responding to the challenges of climate change, and enabling the planning of interventions to address MAIEC diagnoses in the form of CC-specific training and recommendations for new cooperation approaches from all stakeholders. This study was not registered.