Empowerment in general practice. The trilogies of caring.

The authors examine the way in which the doctor-patient interaction often varies between an oppressive caring mode and an oppressed caring mode, both of which apply pressures to the participants and prevent good quality care. A model for the trilogy of oppressive, oppressed, and empowerment caring is examined and it is explained how the process of empowerment caring can enhance the general practitioners' quality of care and improve their practice, their home life and their personal wellbeing.