Electronic Resource

Article - Empowerment through health self-testing apps? Revisiting empowerment as a process Volume 26, Issue 1, Halaman 143–152

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Empowerment, an already central concept in public health, has gained additional relevance through the expansion of
mobile health (mHealth). Especially direct-to-consumer self-testing app companies mobilise the term to advertise their
products, which allow users to self-test for various medical conditions independent of healthcare professionals. This article
first demonstrates the absence of empowerment conceptualisations in the context of self-testing apps by engaging with
empowerment literature. It then contrasts the service these apps provide with two widely cited empowerment definitions
by the WHO, which describe the term as a process that, broadly, leads to knowledge and control of health decisions.
We conclude that self-testing apps can only partly empower their users, as they, we argue, do not provide the type of
knowledge and control the WHO definitions describe. More importantly, we observe that this shortcoming stems from
the fact that in the literature on mHealth and in self-testing marketing, empowerment is understood as a goal rather than
a process. This characterises a shift in the meaning of empowerment in the context of self-testing and mHealth, one that
reveals a lack of awareness for relational and contextual factors that contribute to empowerment. We argue that returning
to a process-understanding of empowerment helps to identify these apps’ deficits, and we conclude the article by briefly
suggesting several strategies to increase self-testing apps’ empowerment function.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

610.1 KAP e

Penerbit

: Springer Gabler (Springer Nature), Wiesbaden, Jerman., 2023

Deskripsi Fisik

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Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

1572-8633

Klasifikasi

610.1 KAP e

Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

Volume 26, Issue 1, Halaman 143–152

Subjek

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Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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