Visions of care: how visualizations shape collaborations and valuations in home care services

Research problem and specific questionsAs Sweden’s population is ageing, home care services are becoming increasingly vital for care provision.

Home care services rely on several professionals such as municipality aid assessors, home care service providers and care workers. To organize care work and to connect stakeholders, home care services also depend on digital systems and their design. In this project we focus on how digitalization makes care visible through various visual interfaces.

Since home care workers often work alone, this sector is especially susceptible to what digital systems visualize. Our project will explore how visualizations shape collaborations and valuations in care.

The purpose of this is to contribute to a sustainable development of home care services, furthering meaningful relations between stakeholders and recipients of home care.How do existing visualizations of care connect stakeholders in home care?What aspects of care are emphasized through different visualizations of care?What tensions and overlaps exist between different ways of visualizing care work?What do different stakeholders (including the care recipient) value in home care, and how can these values be cultivated, visually?

Data and methodWe will conduct an ethnographic study where we will observe how home care workers, municipality aid assessors and system developers work and how they use existing visualizations for planning, documenting and evaluating care. We will also make new images of care interactions by utilizing drawing as an ethnographic method.

Drawings and digital visualizations will be used to design exhibitions. The exhibitions will serve as methods for collaborative learning about valuations in home care services.

Together with stakeholders, including older people receiving home care, we will explore the possibilities and consequences of depicting home care in various ways.Relevance and utilizationOur analysis of how visualizations shape home care will provide guidance on how to support meaningful collaboration between stakeholders.

The study will aid decision-makers and system developers alike, helping them to respond to what caregivers and recipients value.

Ultimately, the study will contribute to improving daily life of older people in need of home care.Plan for project realizationThis is a three-year project where we will work closely with home care services in Gothenburg municipality and a company developing digital software for home care.