The widespread adoption of ICT today has a significant impact on the social work profession. In the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV), a new specialization, ICT-mediated or digital social work, is taking shape. It requires new knowledge, including guidelines for theories, methods and ethics to support skilful ICT use for professional goals. This article combines Rogers' diffusion of innovations theory with perspectives from social work and technology to advance the understanding of ICT-mediated practice amongst frontline social workers in NAV. Through a qualitative research approach, this study reveals the distinct characteristics of current digital social work in NAV and discusses activities that help further realize ICT's potential for social work innovation.

This article discusses which knowledge areas of digital competence are vital for Norwegian social work education today basing on EU Digital Competence framework (DigComp) and expectation from frontline practice. The research adopted diverse methods for data collection, including a case study of Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV), a document analysis of Norwegian social work education guideline and curricula, and a semi-structured interview with social work educators. The results reveal that the integration of digital competence knowledge areas across Norwegian social work education is still highly limited. There is a significant gap between the EU's digital competence requirement and the Norwegian social work curricula, although the DigComp framework demonstrates its limitation in conceptualizing digital competence that is relevant social work domain. There is also the gap between the practice in NAV and Norwegian social work curricula regarding digital competence. We need further research to develop a consensus in respect of defining digital competence and its core knowledge areas in social work to prepare future professionals to harness technology advance for every-changing needs in digitalized society.

The paper addresses an ICT-based, user-driven innovation process in the health sector in rural areas in Norway. The empirical base is the introduction of a new model for psychiatric health provision. This model is supported by a technical solution based on mobile phones that is aimed to help the communication between professional health personnel and patients. This innovation was made possible through the use of standard mobile technology rather than more sophisticated systems. The users were heavily involved in the development work. Our analysis shows that by thinking simple and small-scale solutions, including to take the user's needs and premises as a point of departure rather than focusing on advanced technology, the implementation process was made possible. We show that by combining theory on information infrastructures, user-oriented system development, and innovation in a three-layered analytical framework, we can explain the interrelationship between technical, organizational, and health professional factors that made this innovation a success.

This systematic review revealed and discussed empirical evidence generated from 21 international user-driven innovation studies in the public health and social care. We used PRISMA guideline to ensure a transparent and replicable research process. With the guide of relevant theoretical models, we identified the distinct characteristics of user-driven innovation in current public social care sectors, in respect of its strategic innovation process and user-oriented, empower-based objectives. We categorized different end- and intermediate user groups and discussed how them directly and indirectly engaged in various innovation phases via the support of different methods, and how their participation helped to fulfill users’ roles for exploration, experiments, test, and innovation. We also took a closer look at technological options addressed via included studies and in particular discussed how technologies interact with users in the innovation process.