Engagement and Empowerment in Person Centered Medicine

Engagement and empowerment are important concepts in Person Centered Medicine (PCM). Engagement refers to the act or state of personal interaction that is often crucial as part of thinking and implementing a medicine and health that are person-centered. Empowerment refers to the enablement of a person to fulfill his or her rights and responsibilities. These concepts are usually inter-related as empowerment tends to be carried out as part of an engagement process. While both concepts are relevant to human activities and human relations in general, they certainly have a major significance in the health field. Their place in PCM is related to both its principles and strategies. As such they have often being part of the institutional journey of PCM [1], now ten years old. Their conceptual place and implications in PCM are reviewed briefly next.