User involvement in the implementation of welfare technology in home care services: The experience of health professionals—A qualitative study

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They Just Came with the Medication Dispenser’ – A Qualitative Study of Service User Involvement and Welfare Technology in Public Home Care Services

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User involvement in the implementation of welfare technology in home care services: The experience of health professionals—A qualitative study

Aims and objectives: The aim of this study is to learn more about factors that promote or inhibit user involvement among health professionals when implementing welfare technology in home care services. Background: It is a health policy goal to increase the use of welfare technology in order to address some of the challenges that healthcare services are facing. Health professionals' involvement is important for the successful implementation of welfare technology in home care services. Design: The study has an explorative and descriptive longitudinal design based on a qualitative approach. Five focus group interviews were conducted with 16 nurses and assistant nurses from three different municipalities over a period of 2 years. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The COREQ checklist was used. Results: The analysis led to five main themes: competence a critical component, information and information lines, new ways of working, choice of welfare technology and change in patient services. From health professionals' perspective, there appeared to be a lack of preparedness for the change in the implementation of welfare technology entailed for home care services. The respondents experienced limited facilitation and opportunities for user involvement. Conclusion: Health professionals want to be more involved but emphasised that competence, information and collaborative arenas are necessary factors if involvement in the process is to be increased. Competence affected some of the respondents' attitudes and willingness to use the technology. The respondents also experienced that the managements' focus on facilitation and interest in user involvement in addition to infrastructures that functioned in various ways had an impact on user involvement. Relevance to clinical practice: The knowledge gained from this study about factors that promote or inhibit user involvement among health professionals could contribute to better preparedness for further implementation of welfare technology in the field of home care

User involvement in the implementation of welfare technology in home care services: The experience of health professionals—A qualitative study

Aims and objectives: The aim of this study is to learn more about factors that promote or inhibit user involvement among health professionals when implementing welfare technology in home care services. Background: It is a health policy goal to increase the use of welfare technology in order to address some of the challenges that healthcare services are facing. Health professionals' involvement is important for the successful implementation of welfare technology in home care services. Design: The study has an explorative and descriptive longitudinal design based on a qualitative approach. Five focus group interviews were conducted with 16 nurses and assistant nurses from three different municipalities over a period of 2 years. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The COREQ checklist was used. Results: The analysis led to five main themes: competence a critical component, information and information lines, new ways of working, choice of welfare technology and change in patient services. From health professionals' perspective, there appeared to be a lack of preparedness for the change in the implementation of welfare technology entailed for home care services. The respondents experienced limited facilitation and opportunities for user involvement. Conclusion: Health professionals want to be more involved but emphasised that competence, information and collaborative arenas are necessary factors if involvement in the process is to be increased. Competence affected some of the respondents' attitudes and willingness to use the technology. The respondents also experienced that the managements' focus on facilitation and interest in user involvement in addition to infrastructures that functioned in various ways had an impact on user involvement. Relevance to clinical practice: The knowledge gained from this study about factors that promote or inhibit user involvement among health professionals could contribute to better preparedness for further implementation of welfare technology in the field of home care

Family caregivers’ involvement in caring for frail older family members using welfare technology: a qualitative study of home care in transition

Background: Demographic, economic and organisational changes challenge home care services. Increased use of welfare technology and involvement of family members as co-producers of care are political initiatives to meet these challenges. However, these initiatives also involve ethical aspects. Method: The aim of this qualitative study was to explore family caregivers’ experience of involvement and possible ethical aspects of caring for frail older family members receiving home care services supported by welfare technology. This study used a qualitative explorative and descriptive design within a phenomenological-hermeneutical approach. Sixteen interviews with eighteen family caregivers were conducted. The participants were sons, daughters, siblings and spouses of frail older people receiving home care services with the support of welfare technology. Data were analysed using refexive thematic analysis. The COREQ checklist was used. Results: The analysis led to fve main themes. First, the family caregivers’ experienced caring as meaningful but increasingly demanding concerning the changes in home care services. Second, they experienced a change in relationships, roles, tasks, and responsibilities related to more family involvement and the use of welfare technology. This also challenged their sense of autonomy. However, welfare technology helped them deal with responsibilities, especially safety. The family caregivers requested early involvement, dialogue for care decisions, more cooperation and support from health professionals. Third, the participants experienced that health professionals decided the conditions for co-production without discussion. Their need for information and knowledge about welfare technology were not met. Fourth, the family caregivers felt that the health professionals did not adequately recognise their unique knowledge of the care receiver and did not use this knowledge for customising the welfare technology to the care receiver and their families. Fifth, the family caregivers expressed concern about service and welfare technology inequality in home care services. Conclusions: Co-production in the involvement of family caregivers in care is still not an integral part of home care service. Welfare technology was appreciated, but the family caregivers called for early involvement to ensure successful and safe implementation and use. More attention needs to be given to ethical concerns about the change in relations, transfer of tasks and responsibility, and risk of inequality

Family caregivers’ involvement in caring for frail older family members using welfare technology: a qualitative study of home care in transition

Background: Demographic, economic and organisational changes challenge home care services. Increased use of welfare technology and involvement of family members as co-producers of care are political initiatives to meet these challenges. However, these initiatives also involve ethical aspects. Method: The aim of this qualitative study was to explore family caregivers’ experience of involvement and possible ethical aspects of caring for frail older family members receiving home care services supported by welfare technology. This study used a qualitative explorative and descriptive design within a phenomenological-hermeneutical approach. Sixteen interviews with eighteen family caregivers were conducted. The participants were sons, daughters, siblings and spouses of frail older people receiving home care services with the support of welfare technology. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The COREQ checklist was used. Results: The analysis led to five main themes. First, the family caregivers’ experienced caring as meaningful but increasingly demanding concerning the changes in home care services. Second, they experienced a change in relationships, roles, tasks, and responsibilities related to more family involvement and the use of welfare technology. This also challenged their sense of autonomy. However, welfare technology helped them deal with responsibilities, especially safety. The family caregivers requested early involvement, dialogue for care decisions, more cooperation and support from health professionals. Third, the participants experienced that health professionals decided the conditions for co-production without discussion. Their need for information and knowledge about welfare technology were not met. Fourth, the family caregivers felt that the health professionals did not adequately recognise their unique knowledge of the care receiver and did not use this knowledge for customising the welfare technology to the care receiver and their families. Fifth, the family caregivers expressed concern about service and welfare technology inequality in home care services. Conclusions: Co-production in the involvement of family caregivers in care is still not an integral part of home care service. Welfare technology was appreciated, but the family caregivers called for early involvement to ensure successful and safe implementation and use. More attention needs to be given to ethical concerns about the change in relations, transfer of tasks and responsibility, and risk of inequality

User involvement in the implementation of welfare technology in home care services: The experience of health professionals—A qualitative study

Aims and objectives: The aim of this study is to learn more about factors that promote or inhibit user involvement among health professionals when implementing welfare technology in home care services. Background: It is a health policy goal to increase the use of welfare technology in order to address some of the challenges that healthcare services are facing. Health professionals' involvement is important for the successful implementation of welfare technology in home care services. Design: The study has an explorative and descriptive longitudinal design based on a qualitative approach. Five focus group interviews were conducted with 16 nurses and assistant nurses from three different municipalities over a period of 2 years. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The COREQ checklist was used. Results: The analysis led to five main themes: competence a critical component, information and information lines, new ways of working, choice of welfare technology and change in patient services. From health professionals' perspective, there appeared to be a lack of preparedness for the change in the implementation of welfare technology entailed for home care services. The respondents experienced limited facilitation and opportunities for user involvement. Conclusion: Health professionals want to be more involved but emphasised that competence, information and collaborative arenas are necessary factors if involvement in the process is to be increased. Competence affected some of the respondents' attitudes and willingness to use the technology. The respondents also experienced that the managements' focus on facilitation and interest in user involvement in addition to infrastructures that functioned in various ways had an impact on user involvement. Relevance to clinical practice: The knowledge gained from this study about factors that promote or inhibit user involvement among health professionals could contribute to better preparedness for further implementation of welfare technology in the field of home care