RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Capability and Clinical Success
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 454
OP 460
DO 10.1370/afm.1163
VO 8
IS 5
A1 Robert L. Ferrer
A1 Alejandra Varela Carrasco
YR 2010
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/8/5/454.abstract
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.