The study provides empirical evidence for the assumptions of the Health Empowerment Model. The findings confirm not only the independence of health literacy and empowerment, but also their interaction in predicting health outcomes. In particular, we managed to show that “effective self-manager” patients, who possess high health literacy coupled with high level of patient empowerment report better health status compared to any other patient groups. Moreover, not only the so-called “high-needs patients” with low health literacy and low empowerment are inclined to report low health status, but also “dangerous self-manager patients” who have high level of empowerment but lack the adequate health literacy skills. “Needlessly dependent patients”
