Despite the steadily-higher numbers of women securing a wide range of jobs over recent decades, there remains evidence that many adolescent females lack the faith in themselves to focus on and work toward high professional goals. Under Dr. Moore’s Girl’s Empowerment program, girls ages 13 and 14 at two Philadelphia area schools are receiving the tools they need to build self-esteem, self-awareness, and self-confidence. And it establishes for those girls models in the form of mentors among select JCN students who are studying to be women’s health nurse practitioners.

Through one of several grants she has secured to conduct research and foster change in this area, Dr. Moore created a girls’ empowerment program at a middle school in Somerdale, NJ during the 2019-2020 school year. The initiative linked JCN’s graduate students to educate mentees about their health and well-being. 

The goal was to answer the question: Does a female adolescent mentoring program impact confidence and self-concept within teenage females?  Additionally, her hope is that some of the girls involved will want to become nurses.

The six-week Sommerdale program focused on six core values: creativity, confidence/self-esteem, leadership, health, mentoring and education. Each participant was assigned a mentor from JCN and an Apple iPad to facilitate each session, and kept a personal reflection journal. Participants were divided into two groups of 15 participants each, meeting weekly.