Visioning the Future of Gerontological Digital Social Work

Digital social work: Conceptualising a hybrid anticipatory practice

“…Digital technologies have ‘crept in to’ social work practice (Mishna et al., 2012) and brought new opportunities and challenges (Reamer, 2013). Recent academic discussion has generated valuable empirical contributions and policy implications concerning: social media and social work (Cooner et al., 2020; Megele and Buzzi, 2020); e-social work, including ‘online research, patient treatment (individual therapy, group and community dynamics), training and teaching of social workers and the monitoring of social service programmes’ (López Peláez and Marcuello-Servós, 2018: 801); digital technology use in standardising social work practice and limiting practitioner discretion (Philips, 2019); technology use of young people in care and involved with social services (Sen, 2016); social work students and practitioners’ digital literacy (Turner, 2016; Taylor, 2017); future possibilities of digital therapeutics, monitoring and communication in gerontological social work (Mois and Fortuna, 2020); using digital technology in the reconfiguration of offices and mobile, ‘agile’ working (Disney et al., 2019; Jeyashingham, 2020); and social workers’ experiences of ‘virtual social work’ during Covid-19 (Cook and Zschomler, 2020). Where it has engaged with theory, much of this work has harnessed universal theoretical narratives, including Castells (2010) theory of the network society (Sen, 2016, López Peláez & Marcuello-Servós, 2018; Megele and Buzzi, 2020), Bauman’s (2003) argument that connectivity itself has become more important than meaning transmission (Sen, 2016), Haraway’s (1984) notion of the cyborg, and McLuhan’s (1964) idea that ‘the medium is the message’ (Mishna et al., 2012, Megele and Buzzi, 2020).…”

Understand the role of technology embodiment in facilitating social connectivity to address loneliness across the lifespan: A systematic review

“…Translation of research focused on the application of communication technology is an important step toward real-world resource development to support healthy aging (Mois & Fortuna, 2020). Partnerships facilitated between researchers and practitioners can promote discussions surrounding the opportunities and challenges of technology to facilitate communications (Sebastian et al, 2018).…”

Technologies and social services. An overview of technology use by users of social services

“…This has brought with it both new developments and new challenges [ 2 ]. Since 2020, much has been written and published about “digital social work, describing professional practices using digital media [ 3 , 4 ], the duty to update digital skills [ 5 , 6 ], reflections on the ethics, efficiency and viability of such digital practices [ 7 – 9 ] and the opportunities and scenarios envisaged by the technologisation of the profession’s processes [ 10 , 11 ].…”