Mercy Mpinganjira
Abstract
Digital health technologies are fundamentally transforming healthcare delivery and patient-provider relationships, shifting from paternalistic models to participatory approaches that emphasize patient empowerment. This study examines the intersection of patient empowerment and digital health through a bibliometric and content analysis. Using data from Scopus and PubMed databases from 2000-2025, a total of 308 documents were analyzed to map the intellectual structure and research frontiers in this emerging field. Findings revealed exponential growth in scholarly interest with a 15.01% compound annual growth rate, demonstrating significant interdisciplinary collaboration across medicine, public health, information systems, and marketing. The Journal of Medical Internet Research emerged as the leading publication venue, while geographic analysis revealed research concentration in high-income countries with limited representation from developing nations. Content analysis of highly cited works identified conceptual ambiguity around empowerment definitions and highlighted challenges to patient empowerment, including health service provider resistance. The study provides valuable insights for researchers and practitioners while proposing a future research agenda addressing important gaps in digital health patient empowerment knowledge generation.