![]() However, the challenges of achieving a unified conceptual view of empowerment and perhaps more importantly, a single comprehensive empirical tool to evaluate empowerment in association with eHealth inventions remains. This early work is a promising beginning in the exploration of eHealth and patient empowerment. In addition, particular technologies such as patient portals have become a focal point in this research, with connections made between portal use, patient empowerment, engagement, and/or activation and ultimately, improved personal health outcomes. The diverse application of this popular concept has also extended into the electronic health (eHealth) literature, which, while beginning to explore important considerations regarding the influence of technology on empowerment, has also been challenged by this persistent conceptual conflation.ĭiscussion on the use of technology to advance patient empowerment has taken into consideration how the concept may need to be reimagined within the eHealth context. The role of patient empowerment has been explored in specific care contexts, with particular chronic diagnoses such as diabetes and cardiac conditions, and for patient populations spanning the full range from pediatric to geriatric. In addition to the broad use of the term itself, patient empowerment has also been used interchangeably with the terms patient engagement, patient enablement, patient activation, and even patient-centeredness, though numerous reports support the distinct use and application of each of these key conceptual entities. In the pursuit of patient-centered care, this achievement of definitional consensus, a necessity to facilitate the consistent operationalization and subsequent measurement of patient empowerment, has so far remained elusive. Whereas this conceptual manipulation of patient empowerment has supported a diverse array of associated study, it has been less helpful in the establishment of a concrete and comprehensive singular measure of patient empowerment. The multitude of applications of the term in the literature has established empowerment as a process, often of a transformative nature a representation, or manifestation of purported key elements such as self-management and freedom of choice an aspect or result of particular interventions themselves where often these results are measured through improved patient outcomes or reported self-management. One of the most persistent issues in the consistent operationalization of patient empowerment is a lack of a clear definition of this complex concept. However, significant challenges remain for those wanting to translate the conceptual ideal of patient empowerment into measurable changes in health care behaviors or outcomes. ![]() ![]() Empowerment is considered to facilitate patient control through self-management and shared decision making, as well as promote equitable and collaborative approaches to health care and improved cost-effectiveness of care delivery. Conceptually appealing in numerous health care applications and explorations, patient empowerment is emerging as a focal point in health care research and reform. The move from a decidedly more paternalist system, dominated by the views and preferences of health care practitioners, to one in which patient voice has arisen as a priority, has resulted in an increased exploration of patient empowerment. In addition to complex technological evolution and advancements, health care systems are undergoing a significant paradigmatic shift in response to the demand for care transformations that deliver on the long-standing promise of patient-centered care.
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