For the medical model to incorporate empowerment, a paradigm shift from an illness model to a wellness model may be required. The benefit of such approaches is that they incorporate human needs from a lifespan perspective. Wellness focuses on self-responsibility, on the need to be assertive in creating the life you want rather than passive in just reacting to circumstances. Through an emphasis on freedom of choice, wellness approaches increase the responsibility of individuals for self-care. Wellness is essentially an empowering philosophy which has a goal of helping individuals identify areas of their lives over which they have control, and assisting them to make healthy lifestyle choices which enhance their physical and emotional well being, as well as their continued ability to make even more healthy choices.
Individual behavior is notoriously hard to change.
It may be that the best way to ensure change is through creating a positive, healthy environment, in which helpers communicate a sincere belief in the capability of individuals to assume responsibility for their own total well-being. Such an environment is inherently empowering. As we grow older, the cumulative effect of lifestyle choices becomes increasingly significant. Although the negative impact of unhealthy choices becomes increasingly evident, the good news is that it is never too late to change. Positive, healthy lifestyle choices can enhance the quality of life across the lifespan beginning whenever they are implemented.