Definition
A measure of a person’s knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their own health and wellbeing.
The bigger picture
Activate means to make something start working. So, despite this terminology aiming to indicate the active role of the ‘patient’, it enforces the sense that ‘patients’ are passive, requiring interventions from ‘professionals’ to become ‘active’. It also carries with it another layer of deficit-based and blaming terms, like ‘failure to self-manage’, ‘patients with low activation levels’ and ‘less-activated patients’
Saying it differently
Alternatives depend on the context. Use everyday language that focuses on people as equal human beings rather than patients, and that doesn’t stigmatise or blame people.