Health Empowerment Model

Empowerment is when individuals are given greater control over decisions and actions that will affect their health. Empowerment is important when working in partnership within health and social care settings, as it can allow honest relationships to develop between service users and

Many researchers have tried to define empowerment but as Friere (2009) puts it, there is no particular definition for empowerment because, it cannot be made on the individual levels and that empowerment should be a collective decision taking by a community or organisation to take control of their lives. Hence, empowerment has become one of the controversial topic in today’s health promotion strategies.

Health literacy has been demarcated as the measurement of the individual’s capacity to obtain, understand and process simple health information. It is needed to make satisfactory health decisions and determine services needed to treat or prevent illness. Health literacy requires knowledge from many topics, comprising the patient’s own body, appropriate conducts towards healthy results and the difficulties to understand the health system. It is influenced by many conditions such as our communication skills, age, socio-economic status, and cultural background, past experiences, educational level and mental health status (U.S. Department of

Research shows that seniors with less education and from lower socioeconomic levels experience more disease, a shorter life expectancy and poorer emotional wellbeing. Additionally, Raina et al. (2000) explains that older men and women health is differentially susceptible to various health determining factors. For example, for older men, education has more effect, income and stress affects older women. The proposition is that health education is necessary to create health awareness and to increase health outcome among the seniors. Rowlands, Protheroe, Winkley, Richardson, Seed & Rudd (2015) study shows that low health literacy is correlated with greater use of medical services, less precautionary care, greater difficulty managing long-term illnesses,

Low health literacy has negative health outcomes for many individuals impacted by the unattained health information and teaching that has not been established. Many low literacy individuals do not seek needed treatment due to the cost, unfamiliar location, and the foreign procedures that may occur. Individuals that suffer from low literacy are more prone to the development of chronic disease like diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure.

Health literacy has been a problem with our patients. The most vulnerable populations are the elderly, people with low-income levels, those with limited education, non-native speakers of English, those with chronic mental and physical health conditions, minority, and immigrant populations. Nurses have a great role in helping our patients succeed in understanding their health conditions. Nurses can be of great help in promoting health literacy. Sykes, Wills, Rowlands and Popple (2013) defined health literacy as the ability of individuals to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information. The three domains of health literacy, according to Bennett and Perkins (2012) as adapted from the (WHO) (1998) are functional health literacy, interactive literacy, and critical health literacy. Functional health literacy is basic reading and writing skills to be able to function effectively in a health context. Interactive health literacy is the used of more advanced cognitive and literacy skills to participate in health care. Critical health literacy is the ability to analyze critically and to use information to participate in action, to overcome structural barriers to health (p.14). The U.S. Department of Education published the findings of the National Assessment of Adult Literacy conducted in 2003. The result showed that 36 % of adults have basic or below-basic skills for dealing with health material, 52 %

A healthcare disparity is a limitation of healthcare availability, usually among a certain racial or socioeconomic demographic (Black, 2013). However, there are disparities that don’t have a specific demographic and affect the entirety of the United States, which are potentially most detrimental to the overall health of our country. One of those disparities is health literacy, or the exchange of complex information from the healthcare provider to the patient or client (Black, 2013). The lack of health literacy in America poses as a problem, especially with the chronically ill. Without proper knowledge of how to treat their illness and what to do when the disease process worsens or ameliorates can potentially cause millions of unnecessary hospitalizations,

Empowerment , research and knowledge will arm communities with becoming better informed. Acknowledging the issues and getting those to see that you can live longer healthier lives by changing behaviors and attitudes is only half the battle. Empowerment offers intervention such as programs to be offered to teach people about recognizing warning signs with their body and when to seek out help versuse just not doing

Empowerment is a word we hear a lot and has become an important aspect of delivering health and social care services. Empowerment for people with learning disabilitiesis the process by which individuals develop increased skillsto make decisions and take control over their lives. This helps individuals to achieve their goals and

Empowerment for health is a process where people gain greater control over decisions and actions which affect their own health. Empowerment is important for an individual as it can be seen as building confidence, insight and understanding and developing personal skills. The term empowerment also refers to individuals making their own choices and taking control over their lives as much as possible, for an individual empowerment can be seen as building confidence, insight and understanding and developing personal skills for example; being able to analyse situations and communicate more effectively with others. In health and social care empowerment is very important, practitioners will endeavour to do everything to give the individual ‘a voice’

The concept of health literacy was first originated in early years and it was recognised as an autonomous research field in 1990s (Andrew pleasant and Shyama Kuruvilla, 2008). The

Health literacy is both a consumer and public healthcare issue. As a health care provider, it is not only my responsibility to ensure that you understand your health and what is going on

Health literacy is an essential determinant of health. Health literacy is the degree in which people have the ability to obtain process and understand fundamental health services and information in order to make informed health decisions throughout different phases of life. Patients who are better educated and informed about their options and who understand the evidence behind certain methodologies may have better health outcomes. On the other hand, low health literacy leads to many health problems. In fact, it seems to be the “single biggest cause of poor health outcomes” (Kickbusch 208). Low health literacy inhibits self-advocacy in health care settings. Patients with limited literacy cannot actively participate in health-related decisions

Health literacy approach to health equity tackles the understanding of health care system from the angle of the health care provider and the health care beneficiary. This approach curbs poorer health outcomes and higher health care cost in the populace seeking health treatment. Infact, it is a knowledge enhancer for patients, caregivers and the public. However, systemic factors impede health literacy within the society particularly within the indigenous diversity. The systemic factors may include: culture, medical terminologies and communication skills, knowledge of medical professions, health care and health system expectations as well as contextual situation of the patient.

Practice nurses play a vital role in empowering clients and offering decision support and increasing health literacy (Hassmiller, 2010; Naidu, 2008). Empowerment is a process in which people have control over their decisions and can make informed choices regarding their health (World Health Organisation, 2009; Naidu, 2008). Health literacy is an important concept in health promotion. Health education raises awareness and increases participation of clients in health programmes (McMurray, 2007 as cited