Health empowerment is gaining the skills, knowledge, and confidence to make informed decisions and behavioral changes that improve our health.
- Health empowerment, what does it mean?
- Skills in health empowerment
- Integrating empowerment into everyday life
- Individual and community empowerment
1. Health empowerment, what does it mean?
Health empowerment is the foundation upon which we build our ability to live healthier lives. Health empowerment is about gaining the knowledge, skills, and confidence to make informed decisions and implement them into our lifestyles. It creates a lasting, positive impact on our health and, ultimately, the conditions for healthy longevity.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” It is a holistic vision that considers the person in his or her totality. Proper health does not consist only in avoiding disease but also in living in balance and harmony in the various areas of life to the best of our potential and characteristics.
Health empowerment is, therefore, both about the ability to understand information and acquire knowledge in the field of health and the ability to apply it in our daily lives in line with our goals and values. This process requires enhancing a set of skills that include both the development of knowledge and the ability to apply it in practical and meaningful ways.
Three concepts express the essence of health empowerment:
- Self-efficacy. Building confidence in one’s ability to independently and responsibly manage one’s health is essential.
- Overcoming Barriers. Empowerment involves recognizing and overcoming our barriers to health, primarily mental and emotional ones.
- Behavioral Change and Healthy Habits: Establishing and maintaining healthy habits, changing those that are dysfunctional to your health, and thus adopting a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle is what health empowerment leads to.
2. Skills in health empowerment
There are two groups: technical health skills (Hard Health Skills) and general health skills (Life Health Skills). Both are essential for giving individuals real power to take charge of their own health.
- Hard Health Skills. They are the backbone of effective health management. Technical health skills include understanding medical information and health data, knowing how to move effectively in the health services system, and knowing how to use the main digital health tools that are increasingly widespread. But also, being able to evaluate one’s vital signs and having a minimum but sufficient capacity to deal with emergencies. And then, obviously, having basic knowledge of the general principles and rules for maintaining a healthy body and mind over time (e.g., guidelines for a healthy and balanced diet, basic rules on movement and physical exercise, etc.).
- Life Health Skills. General or transversal health skills, integrating hard health skills, allow us to manage the challenges of daily life effectively. They are psycho-emotional, behavioral, and relational skills, such as decision-making ability, self-awareness, managing stress and emotions, effective communication, and behavioral self-management.
Read this article in which I go into more detail about all the Health Skills >
The integration of both technical and general health skills is what leads to health empowerment. Empowerment is not just about knowing what to do but also about having the confidence and ability to apply that knowledge, enabling individuals to take control of their health and live healthier, more fulfilling lives.
3. Integrating empowerment into everyday life
Of course, it may seem complicated and too much to learn. To better understand what all this entails, it is worth distinguishing between the commitment required to acquire technical health skills (which include what is known as health literacy) and that required for general or transversal skills.
You don’t need years of study or dozens of online courses to acquire the first ones; rather, you need to learn the essential guidelines and some principles and methods. The real obstacle today is the abundance of information available, online and in the media in general, not always correct and science-based, or fragmented (relating to a specific area of life or a particular health condition), or not organized. The risk is to get lost and not understand the priorities. Of course, it is a learning path that requires commitment and motivation, but it is less complicated and long than one might imagine if the learning is well organized and structured.
For general skills, the path could coincide with the course of life and should ideally begin at school age. Surely, the starting point is to understand what they are and to acquire awareness of their importance in one’s life on all fronts.
Health empowerment, in general, is therefore not a one-off result but a continuous process whose characteristics are:
- Continuous learning. General health skills (life health skills) are learned and developed over time. All in all, it is a continuous journey. But even technical skills (hard health skills) must be updated over time because they are constantly evolving: health is a dynamic field, with new research and information emerging regularly, but health systems and related services are also constantly evolving, especially driven by technological innovation. That is also why the more autonomous the person is in this journey, the more effective they will be in managing health and well-being over time.
- Practical Application. Empowerment is consolidated when applied in real-life situations. The more you apply what you have learned, the more you will be “empowered.”
- Support System: Empowerment does not happen in isolation or alone. Having a support system, whether it is family, friends, a community group where you live, or professional help, makes it easier to progressively acquire skills and apply them to change and improve your lifestyle. Support systems provide encouragement, share knowledge, and offer practical assistance, all contributing to lasting empowerment.
Health coaching is a professional service that fundamentally aims to build individual health empowerment.
Find out what Health Coaching is, how it works, and why it can be effective >
However, the offer of educational and training services aimed at health empowerment is still very limited. This is also why the Innergy project was born, initially as a professional Integrative Health Coaching service, with the aim of progressively creating online and offline health empowerment services, as well as spreading the right knowledge and understanding.
Innergy is a word that indicates the vital energy of a person; find out more >
4. Individual and community empowerment
In general, when we talk about health empowerment, we refer to single individuals, which is what I have been dealing with. But for completeness, it is important to remember the collective dimension of health empowerment, which is defined as community empowerment and plays (or should play) a fundamental role in creating a ripple effect that benefits everyone.
In summary, as defined in the World Health Organization’s Health Promotion Glossary, community empowerment refers to “individuals acting collectively to gain greater influence and control over the determinants of health and quality of life in their community.”
Empowered communities have the resources, knowledge, and infrastructure to support the health of their members. This includes access to educational programs and community resources that promote healthy living. But we are not talking about the health system with its services here, even though the two are interconnected.
Here, we refer to the ability of citizens/participants to act collectively to improve the health and well-being of the community or communities to which they belong. It is about active citizen participation, such as self-help groups, participatory workshops, civic networks, and community projects (for example, creating and managing green spaces, organizing information events on health and lifestyles, etc.).
In conclusion, health empowerment is a powerful tool for improving individual and community health and well-being. By developing essential health skills, promoting self-efficacy, and building empowered communities, we can create a healthier, more resilient society.