The patient empowerment concept, a recent outgrowth of the natural health movement, asserts that to be truly healthy, people must bring about changes in their social situations and in the environment that influences their lives, not only in their personal behavior.

According to advocates of the natural health movement, the following are key tenets of patient empowerment:

• Patients cannot be forced to follow a lifestyle dictated by others.
• Preventive medicine
  Preventive medicine
  Preventive medicine or preventive care refers to measures taken to prevent diseases, rather than curing them or treating their symptoms...
  
   requires patient empowerment for it to be effective.
• Patients as consumer
  Consumer
  Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...
  
  s have the right to make their own choices and the ability to act on them.

External links

• Moynihan R, Smith R. Too much medicine? British Medical Journal
  British Medical Journal
  BMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...
  
  . 2002 Apr 13; 324(7342): 859-60. PMID 11950716
• Patient Power LLC U.S. leader in online audio and video programs for patients hosted by Andrew Schorr, a medical journalist and 14-year leukemia survivor. Patient Power's reliable resources connect, educate, and empower patients to take a proactive role in their healthcare.
• Every Patient's Advocate provides tools and information to help patients become empowered, and is provided by Trisha Torrey, the expert in patient empowerment for About.com, and the author of a patient empowerment how-to book called You Bet Your Life! The 10 Mistakes Every Patient Makes (How to Fix Them to Get the Health Care You Deserve).