Written by Carrie Company
What is health empowerment?
A process through which you gain greater control over the decisions affecting your life and health. We should feel empowered, so we take responsibility for our health, lifestyle choices and follow a healthy lifestyle. Those of us who are empowered and engaged in our own self-care tend to be healthier and have better health outcomes!
Engagement versus Empowerment.
- Health Engagement includes asking your healthcare provider questions, following treatment plans, eating healthy, exercising frequently, and following prevention and immunization recommendations.
- Health Empowerment is a process through which you gain greater control over self-care decisions and actions affecting your health.
What is the goal in learning to become more empowered?
The aim in empowering health is to help us develop self-awareness, self-care and promote the understanding that we can be equal partners in our own healthcare decisions and lifestyle choices. In a way, health empowerment puts the individual at the heart of health services so that we are able to get the maximum benefits from it.
What leads to Health Empowerment?
- We make the best decisions when armed with the right information. Being informed about our health is the key to health empowerment. Information should be accurate, easy to understand, and clearly communicated.
- Developing a sense of personal control over your health is empowering and leads to confidence in dealing with our ability to manage health conditions.
- Mutual respect between the healthcare provider and patient creates a partnership of equals working together to manage your health.
- Shared decision making to reach a healthcare choice together.
- Feeling supported by healthcare provide
