Empowerment of Children and Youth for Consumer Self-Care

To maximize opportunities for exchange of ideas, the content of this section changes from issue to issue. In this issue of the Journal, Judith Igoe provides an informative overv#w of social trends and research related to empowering children and youth to participate actively in their own health care. She calls for renewed attention on the part of health practitioners and researchers to develop and test innovative approaches for enhancing children’s participation in care, self-confidence in health encounters, and sense of control of personal health. Directions for research and theory development are addressed. Most importantly, she identifies the need for a societal shift in expectations from health encounters -a shift that could portend more involvement and, as a result, improve health and quality of life for future generations.