Towards a Communication Framework for Empowerment in Osteoarthritis Care

Abstract

Misconceptions about osteoarthritis can disempower individuals by perpetuating beliefs that wear and tear is beyond their control and creating dependency on experts to fix the problem. Clinical discourses play a crucial role in creating awareness that patients can be empowered to take control and successfully self-manage osteoarthritis. Communication is a key competency for clinicians working with osteoarthritis, but there are no documented frameworks to guide osteoarthritis education or communication to optimize understanding and facilitate empowerment. This review examines existing empowerment models to understand the characteristics of empowerment in health and inform an empowerment-based communication framework for osteoarthritis.

Keywords: Communication; Education; Empowerment; Osteoarthritis.