Lost in digitalization? Municipality employment of welfare technologies

Abstract

Introduction: Swedish municipalities face a number of daunting challenges; an aging population, the public's increased demands and expectations on municipality services, and a strained economy to mention some. Welfare technology, a Scandinavian concept launched to promote digitalization, is seen as one solution to meet these challenges. Objective: Despite these promises, few welfare technology applications are offered by local Swedish municipalities and care organizations. Numerous studies have shown that Swedish municipalities have a great interest in welfare technologies. Methods: In this article, we draw on empirical research in one Swedish municipality. Through two case studies it is illustrated how technological change and municipality employment of welfare technologies are employed. Results: These case studies show how core values of care are being lost in the quest for digitalization due to the lack of organizational skills and knowledge in transforming the relationship of caregiving and care-receiving through the use of digital technology. Conclusions: Digitalization and welfare technologies deployed ought to represent and support the core values of caregiving and to receive care. Thus, digital transformation most likely will transform conditions for care receivers and working conditions for care workers. New work processes will evolve, which in turn produce new meanings of home help service work and caregiving. ä IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONDigitalization and the use of new digital technologies imply changes in care value creation. New digital activities deviate from classic caregiving, which in turn can offer opportunities to expand and enrich the experience of receiving care but it can also have negative effects on the received care if incorrectly employed. Digitalization must be regarded as an evolutionary process, in which mistakes and failures are allowed and corrected. Long-term strategies, infrastructure, clear goals and commitments are key for successful digitalization of eldercare.

Nursing staff’s evaluation of facilitators and barriers during implementation of wireless nurse call systems in residential care facilities. A cross-sectional study

“…For alarms to be effective, they must be part of a much more comprehensive care plan for each resident [9]. Some of the new digital functionalities offered by the WNCSs potentially expand and enrich the quality of care by allowing the care provider to remain focused on the residents, but may also have negative implications [1,32,68]. The more complex technologies that presumably disrupt established workflows and challenge existing patterns of interdependence among individuals or groups, will be more demanding to implement [69] and potentially pose new threats to patient safety.…”

Hitting a moving target: digital transformation and welfare technology in Swedish municipal eldercare

“…Stahl and Coeckelbergh [86] have modified RRI to make it more applicable to the field of ICT and care robots by integrating the 4Psprocess, product, purpose and peopleinto a framework. Drawing on the principles of Stahl and Coeckelbergh's framework of RRI in ICT [86], we modified and translated their framework in regard to welfare technology by considering a range of empirical and theoretical work [34,56,[87][88][89][90]. Asking the types of questions listed in Table 2 may mitigate risks, improve outcomes and help increase the understanding of welfare technology and digital service implementation and deployment.…”

Nursing staff´s evaluation of facilitators and barriers during implementation of wireless nurse call systems in residential care facilities. A cross-sectional study.

“…For alarms to be effective, they must be part of a much more comprehensive care plan for each resident (9). Some of the new digital functionalities offered by the wireless NCSs potentially expand and enrich the quality of care by allowing the care provider to remain focused on the residents, but may also have negative implications (1,32,61). The more complex technologies that presumably disrupt established workflows and challenge existing patterns of interdependence among individuals or groups, will be more demanding to implement (62) and potentially pose new threats to patient safety.…”