On misempowerment & mobile health.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Behavioral Science
• Sociology of Health

Background:

• Mobile health (mHealth) tools often promise user empowerment through knowledge dissemination.
• The prevailing 'knowledge-control paradigm' offers a superficial understanding of empowerment.
• Existing frameworks overlook the multifaceted nature of user empowerment in health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically examine the concept of empowerment in the context of mHealth.
• To differentiate between psychological and relational empowerment.
• To analyze the limitations of the knowledge-control paradigm in mHealth.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of empowerment theories.
• Critique of the knowledge-control paradigm in mHealth literature.
• Identification of key components for genuine user empowerment.

Main Results:

• Empowerment involves both psychological (belief in control) and relational (actual capacity and accountability) dimensions.
• The knowledge-control paradigm in mHealth primarily addresses psychological empowerment.
• Overemphasis on knowledge without means or motivation can lead to 'misempowerment'.

Conclusions:

• mHealth tools focusing solely on knowledge may create a false sense of control, leading to misempowerment.
• Genuine empowerment requires aligning users' beliefs with their actual capacity and ability to seek accountability.
• Misempowerment can result in undue responsibility placed on individuals and diminished capacity to challenge power structures.