Patient education for the millennium: beyond control and emancipation?

This paper reports on a study carried out in Nottinghamshire, UK, which focused upon patient education for low back pain in general (family) practice. This study found that patient education could not be viewed simply as either a repressive social control mechanism or as a vehicle for patient empowerment and social change. The paper suggests that a new theoretical and practical orientation to patient education is required which transcends binary categorizations. The existing control/empowerment dichotomy offers a persuasive, yet restrictive conceptualization of patient education which has created rival camps of theoreticians and practitioners intent on demonizing each other. In the light of presented findings, the study suggests a new trajectory for patient education focusing on local possibilities for change.