Objective To identify the concept and connotation of patient activation. Methods Literature on patient activation was systematically retrieved from CNKI，Wanfang，VIP，PubMed，SinoMed，CINAHL，the Cochrane Library，Web of Science，and Embase. Walker and Avant′s conceptual analysis method was used to carry out conceptual analysis of the included literature. Results A total of 41 articles were included. Attributes defining patient engagement were identified as the willingness to participate in health self-management, knowledge for health self-management, actions towards health self-management, and confidence in health self-management; antecedents included demographic characteristics, disease-related factors, psychological factors, and social factors;consequences consisted of promoting health behavior, improving clinical outcomes, and reducing healthcare utilization and costs. Measurement tools encompassed the Patient Activation Measure，the Altarum Consumer Engagement Measure，the Consumer Health Activation Index，and Influence and the Motivation for Patient ACTivation in Diabetes care. Conclusion This study clarified the defining attributes, antecedents and consequences of patient activation，laid a foundation for the development of disease-specific assessment tools，and the construction of localized a localized patient activation intervention program in the future.