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

Abstract

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.