Empowerment and Health Promotion in Hospitals

Health promotion in hospitals may be an unusual concept to many—experience seems to show that public health and health promotion are considered to be the remit of the local authority. However, hospitals also have responsibility for health promotion. This chapter enlightens empowerment as a concept, a process and an outcome and relates empowerment to health and health promotion in hospitals. Supervision as an empowerment-based intervention is described. The central principles of empowerment can be connected with the central elements of the theory of salutogenesis, recognising patients’ self-consciousness and participation as described at the end of the chapter.