Digital health: A sociomaterial approach

Marent, Benjamin; Henwood, Flis

doi:10.1111/1467-9566.13538

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 73 publications

(72 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Marent and Henwood elaborate this method as the ‘sociomaterial approach’, which distinguishes itself by close attention to ‘how algorithmic systems come to work in medical practice’ (2023, p. 47). This approach differs from the substantialist theory that underpins technological determinism, which yields accounts of new digital health projects exclusively in terms of new objects and the physical and electrical connections between these objects.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconciling healthism and techno‐solutionism: An observational study of a digital mental health trial

Berners-Lee

2023

Sociology Health & Illness

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In a growing trend in digital psychiatry, algorithmic systems are used to determine correlations between data that is collected using wearable devices and self‐reports of mood. They then offer recommendations for behaviour modification for improved mood. The present study consists of observations of the development of one of these systems. Descriptions of the trial emphasise the powerful role of the intrinsically motivated, responsible participant on one hand and the empowering machine learning (ML)‐based technology on the other. This conceptualisation is shown to extend the neoliberal paradox of a freedom that, to be maintained, must be continually adjusted through discipline. Because of the paradoxical nature of this formulation, laboratory members disagree about the balance of agency between the objective machine learning system and the empowered participant. The guides who help participants interpret ML outputs and implement system recommendations are ascribed a replaceable role in formal accounts. Observations of this guidance practice make clear not only the important role played by guides but also how their work is relegated to the technological side of the broader formulation of the trial and further how this conceptualisation affects the way they conduct their work.

show abstract

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconciling healthism and techno‐solutionism: An observational study of a digital mental health trial

Berners-Lee

2023

Sociology Health & Illness

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our objective was to investigate how virtual care has impacted the reception of health care for GBQM in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. We adopt a 'sociomaterial approach' (Lupton, 2017(Lupton, , 2019a(Lupton, , 2019b(Lupton, , 2019cBaraitser & Lupton, 2023;Downing et al, 2021;Lupton & Lewis, 2022;Lupton & Maslen, 2017;Marent & Henwood, 2023) and 'materialities of care' (Brownlie & Spandler, 2018;Buse et al, 2018;Lupton & Lewis, 2022), to emphasise how different capacities are opened or foreclosed through the dynamic relations of humans and non-humans in virtual care practices. These analytic frameworks allowed us to understand how virtual care in practice created challenges and benefits, required individuals to engage in sociomaterial practices to make virtual care work and modified the patient-provider relationship (Henwood & Marent, 2019;Marent & Henwood, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following Buse et al., we adopt materialities of care ‘as a heuristic device, where mundane materialities act as a lens for (re)examining care practices in health and social care contexts’ (Buse et al., 2018, p. 245). This entails making visible the significance of materialities, including technologies, in caring practices through which ‘the possibilities for human and non‐human agencies to act become enacted in certain ways’ (Marent & Henwood, 2023, p. 4).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It’s not as good as the face‐to‐face contact’: A sociomaterialist analysis of the use of virtual care among Canadian gay, bisexual and queer men during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Daroya,

Grey,

Klassen

et al. 2023

Sociology Health & Illness

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The COVID‐19 pandemic led to the widespread adoption of virtual care—the use of communication technologies to receive health care at home. We explored the differential impacts of the rapid transition to virtual care during the COVID‐19 pandemic on health‐care access and delivery for gay, bisexual and queer men (GBQM), a population that disproportionately experiences sexual and mental health disparities in Canada. Adopting a sociomaterial theoretical perspective, we analysed 93 semi‐structured interviews with GBQM (n = 93) in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, conducted between November 2020 and February 2021 (n = 42) and June‐October 2021 (n = 51). We focused on explicating how the dynamic relations of humans and non‐humans in everyday virtual care practices have opened or foreclosed different care capacities for GBQM. Our analysis revealed that the rapid expansion and implementation of virtual care during the COVID‐19 pandemic enacted disruptions and challenges while providing benefits to health‐care access among some GBQM. Further, virtual care required participants to change their sociomaterial practices to receive health care effectively, including learning new ways of communicating with providers. Our sociomaterial analysis provides a framework that helps identify what works and what needs to be improved when delivering virtual care to meet the health needs of GBQM and other diverse populations.

show abstract

“…data producing wearable technologies, remote monitoring technologies, health related applications of various mobile digital devices) are becoming increasingly prominent, collectively referred to as mHealth (Lupton, 2012). More recently, advances in data science have introduced new forms of algorithmic medicine, incorporating arti cial intelligence (AI) and machine learning into the complex processes of diagnosis and prognosis (Marent & Henwood, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By taking up concepts, questions, and concerns articulated in the social sciences, we direct our attention to the ways in which the eld of academic medicine is orienting towards an increasingly digital future of healthcare. Our study contributes to academic medicine by providing both a lens by which to examine academic medicine dynamics, but also a mirror by which to explore the potential implications of these dynamics for the future of academic medicine as a eld (Marent & Henwood, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prophecy and promise: Sociotechnical imaginaries in academic medicine strategic planning

Rowland,

Brydges,

Kulasegaram

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose Along with other industries, healthcare is becoming increasingly digitized. Our study explores how the field of academic medicine is preparing for this digital future. We conducted an analysis of strategic plans from two organizational forms that shape the field of academic medicine: medical schools and academic health science centres. Method This study was conducted in 2023. Active strategic plans available in English were collected from faculties of medicine in Canada (n = 14), departments in medical schools (n = 17), academic health science centres (n = 23) and associated research institutes (n = 5). In total, 59 strategic plans were subjected to a practice-oriented form of document analysis, informed by the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries. Results While both organizational types are attending to the digital future of healthcare, this future seems to be under-specified in the strategic planning of medical schools. In contrast, academic health science centres are pursuing a robust sociotechnical future with transformative implications for how care is conducted, what forms of knowledge are prioritized, how patients and patienthood will be understood, and how data work will be distributed. Conclusions Looking through the lens of sociotechnical imaginaries, this study illuminates strategic plans as framing desirable futures, directing attention towards specific ways of understanding problems of healthcare, and mobilizing the resources to knit together social and technical systems in ways that bring these visions to fruition. There are bound to be tensions as these sociotechnical imaginaries are translated into material realities. Many of those tensions and their attempted resolutions will have direct implications for the expectations of health professional graduates, the nature of clinical learning environments, and future relationships with patients. Sociology of digital health and science and technology studies can provide useful insights to guide leaders in academic medicine shaping these digital futures.

show abstract

Digital health: A sociomaterial approach

Cited by 6 publications

References 73 publications

Reconciling healthism and techno‐solutionism: An observational study of a digital mental health trial

Reconciling healthism and techno‐solutionism: An observational study of a digital mental health trial

‘It’s not as good as the face‐to‐face contact’: A sociomaterialist analysis of the use of virtual care among Canadian gay, bisexual and queer men during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Prophecy and promise: Sociotechnical imaginaries in academic medicine strategic planning

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About