Diagnostic éducatif ou bilan éducatif partagé ?

After having discussed the origin of ''educational diagnosis'' wording use in the therapeutic education field, this article shows how the analogy with medical diagnosis may induce inappropriate practices from health professionals, at the opposite of an educational process : questioning of patient, health professionals' expert attitude defining himself the objectives to be reached by the patient, nosographical classification of collected informations, approach by problem, standardization of proposed activities, etc. The wording 'shared educational assessment' is a better reflect of the partnership work to be conducted by the healthcare team, the patient and his/her close environment (family, friends) within a therapeutic education process: the goal is, at each session, to evaluate the patient's personal current thoughts and status, then to agree on the best approach to assist him for an improved healthcare self-management.