Educational activities
Empowering patient education programme arranges educational courses:
International education:
Empowering Patient Education Course (5-25 ECTS)
Empowering Patient Education programme provides education for international and Finnish master and PhD students in nursing and health sciences as well as for health care professionals working in nursing practice. The education includes Empowering Patient Education (EPE) Course (5-25 ECTS). The international EPE course has been annual since 2008 and it contains five modules.
Professor emerita Helena Leino-Kilpi and professor Sanna Salanterä won the Producer of Learning Material Award from the Faculty of Medicine in 2012 for the EPE Course.
Aims
The course aims at describing the theoretical and methodological basis for empowering patient education from the perspectives of the patient, personnel, health care organization and society, deepening understanding of analyzing and implementing and doing research on empowering patient education, and making judgments about empowering patient education in clinical settings and research.
Course description
5 interactive modules in Autumn semester 2025.
Online modules:
- Module 1: Orientation and conceptual basis of empowering patient education on 1.–14.9.2025 (obligatory, 5 ects)
- Module 2: Diagnostics in empowering patient education on 15.9.–5.10.2025 (5 ects)
- Module 3: Patient education as an empowering patient education intervention on 6.–26.10.2025 (5 ects)
- Module 4: Evaluation of empowering patient education on 27.10.–9.11.2025 (5 ects)
Module with a 3-day intensive period in Turku, Finland:
- Module 5: Special issues in empowering patient education research 10.11.–12.12.2025 (5 ects)
- The intensive period on 8.-10.12.2025 in Turku, Finland
Free for students in master and PhD programmes. Price for others: 500 €.
Registration via this link before 17 August 2025
For students in the University of Turku, please register through Peppi. The courses are:
- HOIT4001-3007 Module 1: Orientation and Theoretical Basis of Empowering Patient Education
- HOIT4006-3007 Module 2: Diagnostics in Empowering Patient Education
- HOIT4003-3007 Module 3: Patient Education as an Empowering Intervention
- HOIT4004-3007 Module 4: Evaluation of Empowering Patient Education
- HOIT4005-3008 Module 5: Special Issues in Empowering Patient Education Research
Contact information: Heli Virtanen, Docent, hetuvi(a)utu.fi
Student comments
Some comments from previous EPE course participants who have been from various countries, for example:
Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA
Theoretical perspectives
“I thought the course would be only on the concept of empowerment. I have been very positively surprised.”
“This knowledge significantly expanded my understanding of EPE. During this course I got some good ideas to my own research.”
“I think I need more information about methods/strategies used in empowering patient education.”
“The lecture about outcomes of empowering patient education is so important that it should be longer.”
Learning perspectives
“Course challenged my academic thinking and expanded my command of knowledge.”
“The learning happened during the lectures and discussions. Deep learning happened every day when we were present here.”
“It opened my head for new ideas, new perspectives in patient care. Thnak you for offering the course!”
“Corresponded exactly with my gods. This is the kind of learning that is claiming in my country.”
“My institute of nursing science and my hospital do not have structured programs in patient education, but the Department of Nursing Science of University of Turku has a very strong expertise in it.”
“Learning takes of writing a review. I learned a lot!! Really effective. Very good – very supported.”
“I developed a lot of ideas but they are circle around in a confusion manner in my brain and I still hope to get my patient education program designed.”
Practical perspectives
“All was executed according to the plan. As a foreign student I got information and plans about lodging and the University.”
“An excellent course, highly organised with excellent resources provided”
“Excellent to have everything on Moodle (literature, presentations)”
“Education environment Moodle was used and it was very useful forum for communicating with other students and stuff.”
“It was easy to contact the lecturers and the Professors of the Department of Nursing Science. They responded quickly if I had some problems.”
International collaboration
“We got to know each other very well. I liked very much that there were also international students. It was nice to go together for dinner and so on.”
“There has planned specific moments to the course that we could interact with other students.”
“Very much good-will between students from different countries – helpfulness and friendliness”
“The group came very close.”
National education:
EPE Theme Day
EPE Theme Day (Potilasohjauksen teemapäivä) is an annual, free webinar in Finnish providing recent research findings in the field of empowering patient education and diverse perspectives on patient education. The theme day is targeted at health and social care professionals and students, researchers in health sciences, patients and their significant others, and anyone who is interested in empowering patient education.
The next EPE Theme Day will be on 26 May 2025. The registration is open until May 22.
Potilasohjauksen teemapäivä 2025, online
Past EPE Theme Days:
- Potilasohjauksen teemapäivä, 30 May 2024, online
- Potilasohjauksen teemapäivä, 23 May 2023, online
- Potilasohjauksen teemapäivä – Voimavaraistumisen tuki hoitotyön käyttöön, 12 May 2022, Johan Haartman lecture hall, TYKS, Turku, Finland
- Potilasohjauksen teemapäivä: Tieto potilaan voimavarana – Tutkimustietoa potilasohjaukseen, 10 May 2021, online
Contact information: Saija Inkeroinen, Doctoral researcher, saanin(a)utu.fi
Skilled Patient Educator Course (6 ECTS)
The course aims at developing empowering patient education in health care practice. The teaching methods include lectures, supervision meetings and completion of written patient education material. The students develop written empowering patient education material for their own unit. The education is designed for health care professionals working in health care practice. Empowering Patient Education programme of the Department of Nursing Science is responsible for teaching. The course is arranged with the Hospital District of Southwest Finland, Satakunta Hospital District and Turku Health Care Services.
For the students taken the Skilled Patient Educator Course, Learning Café events and other social events have been arranged.
Contact information: If you are interested in organizing this course in your organization, please contact professor emerita Helena Leino-Kilpi (helena.leino-kilpi(a)utu.fi) or Doctoral researcher Saija Inkeroinen (saanin(a)utu.fi).
Symposium
The current practices and innovations in patient education are presented as well as outcomes of patient education are evaluated in the symposium. The education is designed for health care professionals, leaders, master students and doctoral researchers, teachers and researchers in nursing and health sciences. The symposiums are arranged with the Wellbeing Services County of Southwest Finland and the Wellbeing Services County of Satakunta.
Past symposiums
- Empowering Patient Education 15th Anniversary Symposium
Wednesday 13 December 2023, Turku, Finland - EPE2018 Symposium “Visualizing the Innovations of Empowering Patient Education”
2018, Turku, Finland
Expertice in teaching
Helena Leino-Kilpi, Professor emerita, Nurse Director, PhD, MEd, RN, FAAN, FEANS, MAE
Patient education
Empowering patient education
Researching patient education
Ethics of patient education
Kirsi Valkeapää (ex Johansson), Docent, PhD, RN
Patient education
Orthopaedic nursing
Surgical nursing
Research methods/methodological issues especially surveys
Questionnaire studies
Quasiexperimental and experimental study design
Heli Virtanen, Docent, PhD, RN
Empowering patient education
Empowering discourse between a patient and a nurse
Learning needs of surgical patient
Requirement of a good written educational material
Evaluation of written patient education material
Learning of patient education in nursing education
Virtual patient simulation in learning of patient education
Computer-assisted simulation in nursing education
Metasummary
Evanthia Sakellari, Docent, PhD, RHV
Drawings in patient education
Health promotion
Mental health promotion
School health promotion
Empowering adolescents
Mervi Siekkinen, PhD, RT
Patient education
Radiotherapy
E-education of breast cancer patients
Empowering patient education
Health promotion
Knowledge test development
Knowledge test – Feedback
Jukka Kesänen, PhD, RN
Patient education
Empowering patient education
Orthopaedic Nursing
Day-surgical nursing and Critical care nursing
Knowledge tests
Drawings in patient education
Arja Pekonen, Doctoral researcher, MNSc, RN
Patient education
Orthopaedic nursing
Follow-up study designs
Leena Tuominen, PhD, MNSc
Teach-back method
Educational methods
Internet-based patient education methods
Empowering Internet-based patient education program
Empowering Internet-based patient education programme was created aiming to cognitively empower ambulatory orthopaedic surgery patients. Ambulatory patients possibilities to become cognitively empowered can be increased with the help of cognitively empowering Internet-based education. It can be recommended as an alternative to the face-to-face education method for ambulatory orthopaedic surgery patients.
Contact person: Katja Heikkinen, RN, PhD
Publications based on this method:
- Empowering Internet-based patient education program is published in extranet of the Hospital District of Southwest Finland
- Heikkinen, K. (2011). Cognitively Empowering Internet-Based Patient Education for Ambulatory Orthopaedic Surgery Patients.
Internet-based breast cancer patient’s pathway program (BCPP)
Internet-based breast cancer patient’s pathway program (BCPP) was developed to evaluate the effect of the BCPP to the breast cancer patient’s empowerment by using the patient pathway as a patient education tool. The Internet seems to be an effective patient education tool for increasing knowledge, and BCPP can be used as a patient education method supporting other education methods
Contact person: Anne Ryhänen, RT, PhD
Publication based on this method:
- Internet-based breast cancer patient’s pathway is published in extranet of the Hospital District of Southwest Finland (in Finnish).
- Ryhänen, A. (2012). Internet-based breast cancer patient’s pathway as an empowering patient educational tool
Concept mapping method
Concept mapping method in patient education
The concept mapping method has been originally developed into teaching use for teaching and learning method, and for assessment of learning (Noval 1984). We have used the concept map method in patient and nurse education.
In patient education, the concept map method was studied in preadmission education of orthopaedic patients prior to hospital admission in education discussion. The concept map method seems to be useful in identification of the orthopaedic patient’s previous and current understanding about care-related issues and concentrate to issues on which the patient has no previous knowledge but which are relevant to his/her situation.
Contact person: Kirsi Valkeapää (ex Johansson), Docent, RN, PhD
Publications based on this method:
Concept mapping method in nurse education
In nurse education, the concept map method was studied as an assessment method of learning of empowering discourse. The method was used so that a student draw a concept map on their knowledge before and after learning session.
Contact person: Heli Virtanen, Docent, PhD, RN
Publications based on this method:
- Virtanen, H., Leino-Kilpi, H., & Salanterä, S. (2016). Nursing students’ knowledge about an empowering discourse: Pretest and posttest assessment. Collegian, 23(3), 293–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2015.06.004
- Virtanen H, Leino-Kilpi S & Salanterä S. (2015). Learning about a patient-empowering discourse: testing the use of a computer simulation with nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice 5 (6), 15–24. https://doi.org/10.5430/jnep.v5n6p15
Knowledge tests
Publications based on knowledge test method:
- Kesänen, J., Leino-Kilpi, H., Lund, T., Montin, L., Puukka, P., & Valkeapää, K. (2016). The Knowledge Test Feedback Intervention (KTFI) increases knowledge level of spinal stenosis patients before operation-A randomized controlled follow-up trial. Patient Education and Counseling, 99(12), 1984–1991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2016.07.025
- Kesänen, J., Leino-Kilpi, H., Arifulla, D., Siekkinen, M., & Valkeapää, K. (2014). Knowledge tests in patient education: a systematic review. Nursing & Health Sciences, 16(2), 262–273. https://doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12097
- Siekkinen, M. (2014). Quality of radiotherapy care by development of e-feedback knowledge.
Drawings in patient education
Publications based on drawings in patient education:
- Kesänen, J., Leino-Kilpi, H., Lund, T., Montin, L., Puukka, P., & Valkeapää, K. (2019). Spinal Stenosis Patients’ Visual and Verbal Description of the Comprehension of Their Surgery. Orthopedic Nursing, 38(4), 253–261. https://doi.org/10.1097/NOR.0000000000000572
- Sakellari, E. (2014). Exploring the Impact of Mental Health Education on Adolescents’ Perceptions About Mental Health and Mental Illness. Improving community health.
Teach-back method
Publications based on teach-back method: