Empowerment as treatment and the role of health professionals.

Full Abstract

This article argues that the concept of empowerment has been co-opted by health professionals and redefined as an intervention to produce compliance. Patients are considered empowered by health professionals only if they make the correct choices as defined by the health care provider. Patients are not informed about all possible choices and are not free to make their own choices for their own reasons. Empowerment is a coercive strategy that is justified by its outcomes and creates dependent populations.

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Author information

Author/s: Powers, Penny (P);

Affiliation: South Dakota State University College of Nursing, Brookings, SD 57007-0098, USA. Penny_Powers(-atsign-)sdstate.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: ANS. Advances in nursing science (ANS Adv Nurs Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2003 Jul-Sep; vol 26 (issue 3) : pp 227-37

Dates: Created 2003/08/29; Completed 2003/10/03; Revised 2007/10/26;

PMID: 12945657, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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