Transforming Bodywork in Eldercare with Wash-and- dry Toilets

Hansen, Agnete Meldgaard; Grosen, Sidsel Lond

doi:10.18291/njwls.v9is5.112689

Cited by 16 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…However, how welfare technology is perceived by people who work with and make decisions about welfare technology in the context of municipal eldercare is under-researched and forms the topic of this paper [7,19,27]. Although welfare technology is a Nordic concept, technology in home care is constantly increasing all over the world [2,3,6,[28][29][30][31][32] and it is therefore of importance to understand how people who work with technology in healthcare perceive the opportunities and challenges of technology deployment in eldercare.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The concept of welfare technology in Swedish municipal eldercare

Frennert

Baudin

2019

Disability and Rehabilitation

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Purpose: An ageing population presents a challenge for municipal eldercare in Sweden due to difficulties recruiting staff and there being a strained economy. A strategy involving welfare technology is presented as one such solution. An important group to carry out this strategy involves those who work with welfare technology in municipal eldercare. In this paper we describe their perception of welfare technology, and the challenges and opportunities they perceive in utilizing it. Methods: A self-administered online questionnaire was distributed to all Swedish municipalities and answered by 393 respondents. Analyses show that the respondents were representative of the different professions who work with welfare technology within municipal eldercare. Results: Welfare technology was perceived as being more reliable and safer than humans with regards to supervisions and reminders. The respondents acknowledged factors that slowed down the implementation of welfare technology in municipal eldercare organizations, such as resistance to change, lack of finances, lack of supporting evidence, lack of infrastructure, high staff turnover, difficulties with procurement and uncertainties about responsibility and laws. Conclusions: We found that the people who work with and make decisions about welfare technology in municipal eldercare organizations were generally very positive about the deployment and use of such technology, but there appear to be problems within municipal eldercare organizations to realize this vision. The lack of structured implementation processes and coherent evaluation models indicates inequality of the access to welfare technology and, as a result, even though Swedish eldercare is publicly funded, the availability of welfare technologies and their usage differ between municipalities. ä IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION The research findings show that implementing welfare technologies in municipal eldercare must include transformed working processes and long-term strategies or they may lead to conflicts of priorities or unstructured implementation processes. Structured implementation processes and coherent evaluation models are needed for equality of access and availability of welfare technologies in municipal eldercare. High staff turnover negatively affects the deployment of welfare technology and the root cause of high staff turnover needs to be addressed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The concept of welfare technology in Swedish municipal eldercare

Frennert

Baudin

2019

Disability and Rehabilitation

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“…Care technologies are perceived as an answer to challenges facing the welfare state related to an aging population and corresponding increases in demand for care services. Central policy actors expect the use of care technologies to increase public-sector efficiency and productivity by reducing the need for labor, while also enhancing the quality of care services by promoting increased autonomy and flexibility for recipients, supporting trust and security in public services, and adapting services to individual needs (The Government, Local Government Denmark and Danish Regions 2016; Hansen and Grosen 2019). Broadly speaking, these technologies are thought to provide quality “care at a distance” (Pols 2012), as far as possible withdrawing professional care workers from recipients’ private sphere, and saving limited welfare state resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensor-floors: Changing Work and Values in Care for Frail Older Persons

Grosen

Hansen

2020

Science, Technology, & Human Values

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Based on an ethnographic study in a Danish residential care center, this article shows how the interplay of a sensor-floor technology and currently influential values of person-centeredness, privacy, and security in care transforms care work and care interactions between residents and care workers. Based on an understanding of care as realized in a heterogeneous collective of human and nonhuman actors, this article illustrates how new modes of monitoring and interpreting residents’ care needs at a distance arise, and how a new organization of work focusing on quick and responsive care is established. These new care practices lead to conflicts between the values of privacy and security, to ambivalent experiences among care workers of simultaneously increased security and insecurity in work, and, paradoxically, also often to a decentering rather than person-centering of care. Instead of accommodating simultaneous compliance to the values of privacy, security, and person-centeredness, the use of the sensor-floors makes the tensions between these values continuously and loudly present in daily care practices.

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“…As the use of technology in eldercare is constantly increasing [11,19,[51][52][53][54][55][56], the most common role eldercare professionals play is neither maker nor implementer, but maintainer of digital care services [52,[57][58][59][60]. In this context, technology is already embedded in everyday routines and work practices.…”

Section: Eldercare Professionals As Maintainers Of Digital Care Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral distress and ethical decision-making of eldercare professionals involved in digital service transformation

Frennert

2020

Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology

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Aim: Technology affects almost all aspects of modern eldercare. Ensuring ethical decision-making is essential as eldercare becomes more digital; each decision affects a patient's life, self-esteem, health and wellness. Methods: We conducted a survey and interviews with eldercare professionals to better understand the behavioural ethics and decision making involved in the digital transition of eldercare. Conclusion: Our qualitative analysis showed three recurrent roles among eldercare professionals in regard to digital service transformation; makers, implementers and maintainers. All three encountered challenging and stressful ethical dilemmas due to uncertainty and a lack of control. The matter of power relations, the attempts to standardize digital solutions and the conflict between cost efficiency and if digital care solutions add value for patients, all caused moral dilemmas for eldercare professionals. The findings suggest a need for organizational infrastructure that promotes ethical conduct and behaviour, ethics training and access to related resources. ä IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION The transition to digital care service is not neutral, but value-laden. Digital transformation affects ethical behaviour and decision-making. The decision as to which digital services should be developed and deployed must include eldercare professionals and not lay solely in the hands of managers, technologists and economists. We must move away from attempting to fit standardized solutions to a heterogenous group of older patients; accommodating the pluralism of patients' needs and wants protects their dignity, autonomy and independence. As digital care practices evolve, so too must organizational structures that promote ethical conduct.

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Transforming Bodywork in Eldercare with Wash-and- dry Toilets

Cited by 16 publications

References 28 publications

The concept of welfare technology in Swedish municipal eldercare

The concept of welfare technology in Swedish municipal eldercare

Sensor-floors: Changing Work and Values in Care for Frail Older Persons

Moral distress and ethical decision-making of eldercare professionals involved in digital service transformation

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