DEVELOPMENT AND ANALYSIS OF THE EXPERT PATIENT CONCEPT IN THE BRAZILIAN SCENARIO
Self-care; Health education; Patient Participation; Empowerment for health; Concept formation.
The Family Health Strategy teams are responsible for knowing the reality of the population and encouraging co-responsibility and social participation. The present study addresses a new concept of health education as a strategy to achieve patient empowerment in self-care practices. Such a concept is called Expert Patient. Objective: Analysis and development of the Expert Patient concept in the Brazilian scenario. Method: Study developed based on the Hybrid Concept Development Model proposed by Schwartz-Barcott and Kim (2000), operated in two stages: 1. Context analysis of the Expert Patient; 2. Development of the Expert Patient concept. The first took place from the perspective of Hinds, Chaves and Cypress (1992), in which the four interactive levels of the context (immediate, specific, general and meta-context) were used. The data were collected through a scoping review, which resulted in a final sample of 14 studies. The second stage was carried out according to the three phases recommended by the model: 1. Field phase, where the data were collected through a second scoping review, with a sample number of 145 studies; 2. Theoretical phase; in which an online form was applied to 15 health professionals who are part of the Family Health Strategy teams; 3. Final analytical phase, carried out through a thematic content analysis that allowed to compare, integrate and analyze the data and arrive at a definition of the concept. Results: In the first stage, the following context levels were identified: Particularities of the expert patient and interprofessional care; Implications and challenges for the Health Care Model; Self-management of health care and the expert patient; and Patient-centered health care. In the second stage, the presence of chronic diseases and comorbidities became the main antecedent of the concept, as the main attribute of health education for self-care and as the main consequence of independence in carrying out activities of daily living. Conclusion: The hybrid approach provided the opportunity to build the concept of Expert Patient and offered clarification, knowledge and new insights on patient empowerment for self-care in health. However, it is recommended that other studies be developed as a way to support the analysis of the object from an expanded perspective, taking into account other realities.