Health Promotion: The Empowerment Imperative

Patient empowerment within a coronary care unit: Insights for health professionals drawn from a patient satisfaction survey

“…As a result, the research approach focused on identifying day-to-day benchmark indicators, consistent with empowerment as a technology (Tones, 2001).…”

“…In an effort to measure indicators of empowerment in a complex, clinical milieu, empowerment was defined in this study as a technology used for practical, day-to-day and face-to-face encounters with patients (Tones, 2001). The research instrument focused on interventions which employed simple, pragmatic, enabling strategies to enhance patients' control over their health (Tones, 1991).…”

Patient empowerment: Emancipatory or technological practice?

“…While it can reflect a broad sociopolitical agenda or be a more radical, emancipatory process, the meaning given to it by nurses participating in this small scale, situated study suggests it fits more with the concept of empowerment as a pragmatic, applied technology [38] and within the ideological context of a modified medical model. In practice this translates into providing patients with information, facilitating informed choice, moving the balance of power more toward a nurse-patient partnership and services closer to the aspirations and convenience of the latter but within a framework of pathology and boundaries outlined by the nurse.…”

“…In terms of theoretical and epistemological contextualisation this fits with the empowerment model of Piper's [3] health promotion framework as HCP control is reduced and subjective patient knowledge has greater influence and more of a bottom up impact. As a form of empowerment the process is consistent with empowerment as an 'applied technology' [38], i.e. skills driven interventions concerned with effective communication [38][39][40], listening, patient specific information and teaching, high quality HCP-patient relationships, the facilitation of patient decision making and advocacy [38].…”

“…Of those cited in this article, phase one of the data collection comprised four early interviews with cardiac rehabilitation nurses Sue (38) and Helen (late twenties), Tracey (51, emergency care manager) and Wendy (38, executive nurse). Phase two comprised five focus groups.…”