OBJECTIVE Communication technologies, such as personal online health communities, are increasingly considered as a tool to realise patient empowerment. However, little is known about the actual use of online health communities. Here, we investigated if and how patients' use of online communities supports patient empowerment. SETTING A network of primary and secondary care providers around ind...

a r t i c l e i n f o Management theories, especially those in the area of human resource management, are predominantly Western-centric in origin and in the empirical testing that underpins them. The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions of one such theory, employee empowerment, in an Asian context. Information gathered from an open ended questionnaire and focus groups provide an in-d...

BACKGROUND Health policy in the UK and elsewhere is prioritising patient empowerment and patient evaluations of healthcare. Patient reported outcome measures now take centre-stage in implementing strategies to increase patient empowerment. This article argues for consideration of patient empowerment itself as a directly measurable patient reported outcome for chronic conditions, highlights some...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to clarify the meaning and the nature of empowerment concept in some Iranian old people suffering from chronic diseases. METHODS Concept analysis was undertaken according to the hybrid model, which consists of three phases: an initial theoretical phase, a fieldwork phase and a final analytical phase. After an extensive review of the literature in order to...

the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between employees’ empowerment and organizational learning in physical education organization. the research used a descriptive correlation method. statistical population consisted of all employees in physical education organization (n=722) and based on cochran sampling method, 250 subjects were selected for the statistical sample. the ...

The aim of this paper is to show that the conception of autonomy as second-order capacity, i.e. the capacity to reflect on and change our personal motivational structures, e.g. preferences and desires, should be of particular interest to the scholarly debate on empowerment. Two major implications of the conception are discerned to support this claim. Firstly, this conception of autonomy can hel...

Easier and focused access to healthcare information can empower individuals to make 'informed' choices and judgements about personal health maintenance. To achieve 'optimum' patient empowerment, we need to re-evaluate and potentially re-design the processes of healthcare information delivery. Our suggestion is that healthcare information should be personalised according to each individual's hea...

The number of empowerment-oriented consumer-operated service programs (COSPs) in mental health has increased dramatically over the past decade; however, little empirical evidence exists about the effects of such programs on their intended outcomes. This study examined the effects of COSPs on various aspects of empowerment within the context of a multisite, federally funded, randomized clinical ...

In today’s health care, a growing interest in more active patient involvement in their treatment is emerging. Along with the fact that electronic health records is now commonly used by most health care provides, a unique possibility to improve patient involvement through personal health records exists. This paper investigates the premisses under which a personal health record system is to be im...