PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Robert L. Ferrer
AU  - Alejandra Varela Carrasco
TI  - Capability and Clinical Success
AID  - 10.1370/afm.1163
DP  - 2010 Sep 01
TA  - The Annals of Family Medicine
PG  - 454--460
VI  - 8
IP  - 5
4099  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/8/5/454.short
4100  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/8/5/454.full
SO  - Ann Fam Med2010 Sep 01; 8
AB  - Better outcomes for chronic diseases remain elusive because success depends on events outside the control of the health care system: patients’ ability to mange their health behaviors and chronic diseases. Among the most powerful influences on self-management are the social and environmental constraints on healthy living, yet the clinical response to these environmental determinants is poorly developed. A potential approach for addressing social determinants in practice, as well as planning and evaluating community responses, is the capability framework. Defined as the real opportunity to achieve a desired lifestyle, capability focuses attention on the material conditions that constrain real opportunity and how opportunity emerges from the interaction between personal resources and the social environment. Using examples relevant to chronic disease and behavior change, we discuss the clinical application of the capability framework.