The dark side of patient empowerment

Abstract

Patient empowerment may be prevented by different barriers at both the individual and the organizational levels. If patient empowerment initiatives do not take into consideration such barriers, a significant risk of value co-destruction arises. This chapter delves into the dark side of patient empowerment, pointing out that the establishment of co-creating relationship between the patients and the healthcare professionals may produce several side effects. In particular, value co-destruction is expected when the patients and the healthcare professionals participate in co-planning, co-designing and co-delivering health services by bringing contrasting expectations, conflicting inputs and diverging ends. These issues should be detected and handled to realize the full potential of patient empowerment initiatives.