A Comprehensive Model for Patient Participation

Abstract

Patient participation is legislated for internationally and leads to improved patient satisfaction, quality in health services, trust in health professionals, and self-management of disease. Patient participation involves health personnel sharing power, thus empowering the patient. To involve and empower patients is important for achieving several Sustainable Development Goals: Good health and well-being (3) and Reduced equality (10). Patient participation is complex, and the aim of this study is to develop a comprehensive model to understand and improve patient participation in health services and research. Based on 27 qualitative primary studies about patient participation in non-communicable diseases analysed by meta-ethnography, four themes were defined: frame factors, interactions, level of involvement, and clinical context. Including frame factors adds a new dimension to the understanding of patient participation. Frame factors have been underestimated and frame factor theory may be useful to understand and reveal the complexity of patient participation in clinical practice and research.