In a new paper, Andreas Bergqvist, Niklas Humble, Mats Daniels, and Åsa Cajander investigates how AI influences work engagement among IT professionals in the Swedish IT-sector. 28 qualitative interviews were studied through the job demands resource model. The findings show how emerging technologies such AI can contextually affect both resources and demands in the work practices and workplaces at the same time. On one end it can reduce repetitive tasks, support learning, and highlight meaningfulness of work, while, on the other, it can lead to cognitive overload and concerns about reliability and skill relevance. These findings suggest that the job demands resource model is insufficient to fully account for the dynamic nature of how digital technologies co-constitute work practices contextually through mediated interactions as part of a socio-technical system. This highlights the need to adapt the conceptualization of work engagement to handle the nuanced ways that both direct and indirect interactions with technologies shapes our practice and work. Framed through the need for theories on UX@work, we call this Digital Work Engagement, a positive and fulfilling user experience of vigour, dedication, and absorption based on the worker’s interactions with and relation to technology in the workplace. Based on this, the paper includes implications for how both managers and designers can continue to foster work engagement through how they develop and integrate emerging technologies with respect for professional growth, autonomy, and support.
We gratefully acknowledge that the study and research project was supported by funding from Afa Försäkringar, Sweden [grant number 220244].
As a parallel, the image at the start of this post is AI-generated, or at least partially. I thought I could get it generated ready to post directly. But after sitting an hour prompting, I had a chat of failed attempts. The face changed between the image, the robot got googly eyes or stopped holding anything, and computer screens got flipped the wrong way. In the end, I took my favorite parts of different attempts and cut and pasted them together to fit what I intended. It became self-induced workslop. Next time I will probably just browse for a creative commons photo that sort of fits instead. So in a way, similarly to what you can read in the paper, the AI was simultaneously useful to me and induced more work and frustration.
Informal caregivers (ICs) play a vital role in supporting individuals with head and neck cancer. However, they are often expected to manage complex medical, emotional, and practical responsibilities with limited preparation. This gap between expectations and available support highlights a clear need for interventions that go beyond providing information and instead actively strengthen caregivers’ well-being and sense of preparedness.
In our recent study, co-authored by Awais Ahmad, Åsa Cajander, Ulrica Langegård, Birgitta Johansson, Anna Henriksson, Mona Pettersson, Waqas Ahmad, and Ylva Tiblom Ehrsson, and published in JMIR Human Factors, we address this challenge through the development of Carer eSupport. This web-based application was designed using a human-centred design (HCD) approach.
The aim of the study was to present how a web-based application can be designed to support ICs’ well-being and preparedness for caregiving through the HCD process. We detail the design and functionalities of the Carer eSupport application and explain how it responds to both the functional and psychological needs of ICs. By integrating HCD with a eudaimonic perspective, our research also intends to provide insights into design approaches that prioritise user well-being in web-based application development.
Additionally, we reported findings from our pilot study and highlighted the initial challenges ICs faced when engaging with the application and the strategies used to overcome these issues.
Moving Beyond Functionality: Designing for Real Needs
We applied the HCD process not only to improve usability, but also to address both the functional and psychological needs of ICs. The design process actively involved ICs, healthcare professionals (HCPs) and researchers across three iterative cycles.
This approach ensured that the application reflects the realities of caregiving. For example, Carer eSupport integrates:
Educational resources to improve preparedness for caregiving tasks
Practical guidance on symptom management and daily care challenges
Self-care support addressing fatigue, stress, and emotional strain
Psychosocial features such as discussion forums and interaction with HCPs
Integrating Well-Being into Design
One of the study’s main contributions is the integration of a eudaimonic perspective into the design of well-being. Rather than focusing solely on short-term satisfaction, the intervention addresses deeper psychological needs, including autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This approach is grounded in eudaimonic well-being, which emphasises living in a way that is meaningful, purposeful, and aligned with one’s values.
Eudaimonic motivation differs from hedonic motivation in that it does not primarily focus on pleasure or comfort. Instead, it emphasises personal growth, meaning, and the realisation of one’s potential. In the context of caregiving, this distinction is particularly relevant. ICs are not only seeking ease of use but are also navigating emotionally demanding situations where purpose, mastery, and connection are central to their experience.
This is where Self-Determination Theory provides a useful theoretical foundation. It proposes that sustained and meaningful motivation is supported by three basic psychological needs:
Autonomy: feeling in control of one’s actions and decisions
Competence: feeling capable and effective in managing tasks
Relatedness: feeling connected to others and supported
The Carer eSupport application operationalises these principles in its design. Autonomy is supported by allowing ICs to navigate content according to their own needs and pace. Competence is strengthened through tailored educational materials and practical guidance. Relatedness is fostered through communication features that connect ICs with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and, where relevant, peers in similar situations.
Importantly, these design choices go beyond improving usability. They support a deeper form of engagement in which ICs are enabled to develop confidence, resilience, and a stronger sense of meaning in their caregiving role. This reflects the core idea of eudaimonic motivation: engagement driven by intrinsic value and personal significance rather than short-term satisfaction.
Evidence from the Pilot Study
The paper further strengthens its contribution by reporting findings from a pilot study, demonstrating the feasibility of the intervention. The results show encouraging engagement, including a strong consent rate and successful user onboarding, confirming readiness for a larger trial.
At the same time, the study does not overlook challenges. ICs faced several barriers when engaging with the application:
Demanding Nature of Caregiving
Due to their caregiving responsibilities, many ICs struggled to find time and energy to engage with the application. During the early phase of diagnosis and treatment, caregiving demands often took priority. In this context, follow-up reminders supported re-engagement once their situations stabilised. One participant noted that although they initially could not log in, a later reminder enabled access when their circumstances improved.
Communication Problems
Some ICs did not receive the initial email with login details or found it in their spam folder, delaying access. To address this, we implemented a multichannel communication strategy using email, SMS, and follow-up phone calls. This improved access speed and strengthened user support.
Login and Authentication Problems
As Carer eSupport is built on Microsoft SharePoint, some users experienced authentication conflicts, particularly when multiple Microsoft accounts were involved. The two-factor authentication process was also perceived as complex. We responded by improving written instructions and developing a step-by-step video tutorial, which reduced login errors and improved independent access.
Access to IT Infrastructure
Some ICs lacked access to suitable devices and relied on smartphones or shared computers, which sometimes limited functionality. As hardware provision was not feasible, we provided extended telephone support. While this enabled eventual access, results suggest that access would be smoother with more consistent use of computers or tablets.
Limited IT Knowledge
Limited digital literacy, particularly among older ICs, also affected onboarding. To address this, we provided structured telephone guidance and clear instructional materials to support the login process and initial use of the system.
Why This Matters
This work provides a compelling example of how HCD can be applied in a structured and meaningful way to design for well-being. It shows that:
Supporting ICs requires more than information; it requires addressing emotional and psychological needs
Iterative, participatory design leads to more relevant and usable interventions
Real-world challenges must be integrated into the design process, not treated as external issues
Most importantly, the study demonstrates that the aim is not only theoretical but achieved in practice: Carer eSupport represents a functioning, user-informed system that supports both preparedness and well-being.
Looking Ahead
While the pilot study confirms feasibility, the ongoing randomised controlled trial will provide further evidence of effectiveness. Nevertheless, this work already offers valuable insights for researchers and designers working at the intersection of HCI, healthcare, and well-being.
It supports a broader shift in digital health design: from systems that primarily deliver information to systems that actively support people in complex and emotionally demanding roles.
Learn more: The full details of our study, including all data and design insights, are published open-access in JMIR Human Factors. Read the paper here: humanfactors.jmir.org/2026/1/e81896.
I mitten av mars höll Jessica Lindblom en keynote-presentation på tvådagarskonferensen Digital teknik i arbetsvardagen – teknikstrul, stress och möjligheter på Arbetets museum i Norrköping. Hon lyfte hur AI, robotar och digitala system påverkar den kognitiva arbetsmiljön och hur gapet mellan ”arbetet som det är tänkt” och ”arbetet som det faktiskt utförs” kan skapa stress, avbrott och ökad mental belastning.
Jessica presenterade aktuella resultat från två olika forskningsprojekt:
AIHURO (Vinnova) – om interaktionen mellan människor och mobila kollaborativa robotar i tillverkningsindustrin. Resultaten visar tydliga skillnader mellan montörer och truckförare i upplevelsen av införandet av robotarna i fabriken, särskilt gällande säkerhet, förutsägbarhet och kognitiv belastning.
AROA (AFA Försäkring) – där hon och kollegorna utvecklar ett ramverk för digitalt arbetsengagemang och hur avancerade system som AI och robotik kan stödja vitalitet, hängivenhet och försjunkenhet i arbetet inom branscherna IT, tåg och lantbruk.
Det blev två trevliga och inspirerande dagar i Norrköping, med många intressanta presentationer – bland annat om algoritmiskt management, framtidens arbetsorganisation och hur olika former av digital teknik och AI (om)formar beslut, kompetenser och arbetsroller i arbetslivet.
Beyond ‘Green Growth’: Why HRI Needs a Post-Growth Perspective
The field of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is at a crossroad. As we design more sophisticated robots for healthcare, education, and the home, we are forced to reckon with that our technological progress is deeply intertwined with an economic model that demands perpetual growth—often at a steep cost to our planet.
In our new paper, ‘Post-growth Perspectives in HRI’, recently presented at HRI ’26 in Edinburgh, my co-authors (Mafalda Gamboa, Ilaria Torre, and Birgit Penzenstadler) and I argue that it’s time to look beyond the ‘green growth’ narrative.
The Problem with ‘Business as Usual’
Climate research has pointed out that economic growth is the root cause of environmental devastation, and the most prevalent ‘rescue narrative’ is that productivity growth will recover through new technological breakthroughs. But, this narrative rarely account for the limits to the planetary resources.
Almost all improvements in user interactions increase energy and resource consumption. The carbon emissions from training Large-Language Models is one example, and emissions from sensors and components are also mainly caused by energy consumption. All parts, both software and hardware, of the robots the HRI community are building and buying are, therefore, (somewhat) harmful to our planet.
In parallel, we are seeing a growing graveyard of social robots, where many of the robot platforms that the field has relied on are going bankrupt due to not being able to expand and grow beyond academic buyers. We argue that HRI cannot solely rely on the unstable market of social robots and the market mechanisms that the field is deeply tied to, such as software-as-a-service and robot-as-a-service, which by many large companies is often driven by robotwashing. To tackle this, we point to self-built and low-scale robots, even though they are not exempt from the material dependencies of the broader growth paradigm.
Introducing Post-growth for HRI
Our paper introduces a post-growth perspective to HRI, by inviting the community to shift the focus from quantitative growth to qualitative development. We reuse the metaphor of the snail (broadly used by the degrowth and slow movements) and add a new ring on the snail’s shell—a layer of automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics, built upon already complex structures. While intended to enhance efficiency and productivity, this continual layering risks creating fragility, dependence, and ecological or social imbalance. The metaphor thus warns of the limits of accumulation and invites reflection on how to achieve balance for HRI.
To help researchers and practitioners navigate this shift, we propose three actionable steps:
Ask ‘Question Zero’: Inspired by the question zero for the use of AI: ‘why AI?’, we, in our version, ask ‘why robots?’. Asking this forces criticality and more detailed motivation for why a robot is needed and for whom. Question zero can also inform research that examines real-world applications in need of critique. Beyond refusal, the question seeks to find cases in need of assessment and possible exnovation.
The Post-growth Manifesto: We suggest a manifesto (see below), that comes with a glossary. Here, we list a number of conventional understandings of robots in HRI based on our reading of the field, in opposition to a list of important notions within post-growth for HRI. It can be a tool to locate, discuss, and negotiate ongoing research, and in doing so, we encourage leaning into the B side to support a post-growth orientation.
Sustainability Statements: Just as ethical and positionality statements have become standard, we propose a template for sustainability statements. These encourage researchers to reflect on the environmental, social, and economic impacts of their work.
Why This Matters
As HRI researchers, we have the power to define what the ‘future’ looks like. By embracing post-growth, we aren’t ‘anti-technology’. Instead, we are advocating for a future where robotics serves humanity and the biosphere without being tied to the destructive cycle of endless extraction.
We hope this paper serves as a call to reflexivity and criticality. It’s time to consider not just how we build and deploy robots, but for whom and at what cost.
Citation:Sofia Thunberg, Mafalda Gamboa, Ilaria Torre, and Birgit Penzenstadler. 2026. Post-growth Perspectives in HRI. In Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI ’26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1388–1398.
I en ny studie undersöker Irene Muli, Åsa Cajander, Nadia Davoody, Lovisa Jäderlund Hagstedt, Helena Hvitfeldt, Maria Hägglund och Marina Taloyan hur patienter och vårdpersonal uppfattar videobesök i svensk primärvård, vilka patienter som faktiskt använder dem och vilka faktorer som påverkar användningen. Studien bygger på fokusgrupper med 27 vårdprofessionella och intervjuer med 13 patienter.
Ett av de mest intressanta resultaten är att införandet av videobesök beskrivs som snabbt, otydligt och delvis oförberett. Pandemin gjorde att tjänsten kom på plats fort, men det fanns inte tillräckligt med tid för en genomtänkt introduktion. Patienter fick information och instruktioner, men behövde ofta extra stöd för att faktiskt komma igång. Samtidigt hade vårdpersonalen begränsad utbildning och ibland även begränsad insyn i den patientnära tekniken, vilket gjorde det svårare att hjälpa patienter när problem uppstod.
Studien visar också att användning av videobesök inte bara handlar om teknisk tillgång, utan i hög grad om föreställningar om vem tjänsten passar för. Videobesök uppfattades ofta som något för yngre och digitalt vana patienter, medan äldre personer och patienter med språkrelaterade eller kognitiva hinder oftare sågs som icke-användare. Det är ett viktigt resultat eftersom det pekar på att användningen påverkas av antaganden och förväntningar, inte bara av faktiska behov eller medicinska förutsättningar.
En annan central poäng är att både patienter och vårdpersonal aktivt formar när videobesök används. Patienters önskemål, livssituation och möjlighet att ta sig till vårdcentralen spelade stor roll. För vissa var videobesök ett smidigt alternativ som sparade tid och förenklade kontakten med vården. För andra framstod fysiska besök eller telefonkontakt som mer naturliga. Vårdpersonalens egna bedömningar var också avgörande, särskilt eftersom det ofta saknades tydliga kliniska riktlinjer för när videobesök var lämpliga.
Det kanske mest tankeväckande resultatet är att videobesök riskerar att förstärka ojämlikheter om de införs utan tillräckligt stöd. Författarna visar att digital infrastruktur, plattformarnas användbarhet, ersättningssystem, organisatoriska förutsättningar och sociodemografiska skillnader påverkar användningen. När vårdpersonal och patienter gör antaganden om digital förmåga eller lämplighet finns en risk att vissa grupper aldrig riktigt får möjlighet att prova tjänsten. Studien pekar därför på att ett mer jämlikt införande kräver både bättre användbarhet, bättre stöd och större digital beredskap i vården.
Sammantaget ger studien en viktig bild av att videobesök inte kan förstås som enbart en teknisk lösning. Användningen formas i mötet mellan teknik, professionella bedömningar, patienters preferenser och de organisatoriska villkor som omger vården. Studien visar att frågan inte bara är om videobesök fungerar, utan för vem de fungerar, när de erbjuds och på vilka villkor.
Referens
Muli, I., Cajander, Å., Davoody, N., Jäderlund Hagstedt, L., Hvitfeldt, H., Hägglund, M., & Taloyan, M. (2026). Health Care Professionals’ and Patients’ Perceptions and Experiences of Who Uses Video Consultations, and Why: Qualitative Study. JMIR Human Factors, 13, e68658. https://humanfactors.jmir.org/2026/1/e68658
I’ve been diagnosed with an ‘ugly’ prostate cancer. It’s a simple, hard and unavoidable fact, and it is nothing to try to hide or escape from. So, there is nothing else to do than to take out the somewhat cynical perspective on life I’ve inherited from my father. I will therefore not delve into a sad story full of pitying and negativity. If I cannot change something, I can just as well observe what happens and learn from it. And then I can share my thoughts about everything that happens around me, as I will do in this post. Here I will describe my experiences as a combined patient and HMI researcher from the first of a sequence of in total twenty-nine days of two minute radiation treatments. And there will of course be one “conclusion” of my experiences at the end of the post (although, it might not be what you expected).
The treatment of prostate cancer has taken huge steps forward over the years, and I’m not as scared as I probably should have been fifteen or twenty years ago. “Cancer” is still a scary word, and we don’t talk about it in the same way as we talk about a flu or maybe more accurately about having a pneumonia. But I will try to look away from the scariness, and go into “observation mode”. And here is what I have observed:
I enter a large bright room with soft music playing. First I remove my trousers and any electronic devices (for example, my smart clock). At the center of the room is a plastic monster, looking as if it came directly from the stage of Star Trek (see the picture below). The contraption holds a rotating radiation gun and an X-ray machine that work together to focus the radiation. The process uses X-ray triangulation of three gold grains, (actually miniature strips of gold leaf) that have been operated into my prostate, to make sure that the radiation beam is aimed correctly each time.
A painting of the room for radiation treatment with the “radiation gun” in the background (AI-generated picture by the author and Dola AI).
I am placed on a steel bed, with some ergonomic supports for my legs. With a number of laser beams, my three “tattoos” (small, andactually tattooed dots on my hips and tummy) are aligned with some positional markers. The bed is adjustable in many different degrees of freedom, to make it possible to reach the “perfect” position for the treatment. The nurses leave the room and the whole contraption with radiation head and X-ray machinery starts to rotate around my body, with short stops. making the final positional adjustments before the radiation is started. Finally it makes two full circles back and forth with a special, strange buzzing sound. I assume that that is the radiation phase.
And I don’t feel anything at all. The huge machine in the picture focuses the intense beam to precisely hit the small ‘dot’, smaller than a pea, that is the main character in this drama. The beam goes through a 360° rotation around me on the bed. It’s a very narrow but strong beam, invisible, but not at all harmless. And … I feel absolutely nothing. After approximately two minutes of buzzing and the continuous rotation of the radiation head, I’m ready to get up and go home again. No pain, no itch, no feeling of heat. But two minutes of high-energy photons (or electrons?) have made their impression on my non-wanted part of the body.
But as I lie there on the bed, I immediately start to think about the amazing computer system that handles this process from beginning to end. All the preparatory X-rays, alignments, calculations, and the careful dosages given by the machine are (of course) all handled by computers. And, I hasten to add, by the professional team they serve. It is even really mindboggling to think about the creation of the complete system of Human-Machine Interaction that allows for these (and many similar) tools to be used at hospitals all over the world.
But… it is also when I lie there, the machine buzzing and rotating that I get this very insisting thought that penetrates my thoughts:
AND THEN WE HAVE… COSMIC…
A real screenshot, actually from the Mil***nium system (I could not find any suitable screenshot from COSMIC.)
The contrast is on the brink to being hilarious, were it not that the topic is so serious and that people really have to work with COSMIC (I will not be so macabre, as to say… mi***nnium, but i guess you already thought about that?). Why, oh, WHY can we make such fantastic medical systems as the radiation treatment beamer, and then fail so miserably in making such an essential, “has-to-be” simple system for the storing of patient data?
WHY? OH, WHY?
POST SCRIPTUM: I have to give my full praise to the personnel on the clinics for radiation treatment and urology, who have been so wonderful and supportive in this difficult situation. Always happy and personal, providing a very large feeling of safety and comfort. Thank you, and I wish you could have a more friendly system than COSMIC at your workplace.
Last week, Jessica, Åsa and I hosted a productive reference group meeting in the AROA project funded by AFA Försäkring. As we mentioned previously, we are currently in the project’s synthesis phase where we work towards a theoretical framework on the role of interactions with technology, such as AI, robotics, or automation, in influencing our work engagement. The framework is still a work in progress that we iterate and continue to ground in our empirical and theoretical findings on a regular basis. As such we are not able to present anything here yet but look forward to do so once it is ready for a wider audience.
During the reference group, we presented the current state of this framework to representatives from companies, unions and employer organisations as well as HCI researchers external to the project. Through this, the reference group provided invaluable insights and reflections on parallels to what was presented and helped further ground the current iteration of the project in their practical and domain knowledge. The project group also got feedback and inspiration from the reference group on where the project should go next and on future possibilities on how to continue after the current project finishes up. To the project group, a big thank you for your support in the project so far and the great insights that you provided!
The project team will now continue to work on integrating the knowledge and feedback gained from the reference group into the next state of the theoretical framework on digital work engagement. We will share further updates when we are ready to do so as the project continues.
Thank you for reading this!
Andreas and the other researchers in the AROA project.
As artificial intelligence becomes more common in education and society, some of the concepts we rely on need to be reconsidered. In the paper Conceptual Analysis and Conceptual Engineering: Methodological Issues in the Philosophy of Computing Education, Roger McDermott, Mats Daniels, John N. Brown, and Åsa Cajander discuss how philosophical methods can help researchers analyse and rethink key concepts in computing education (McDermott, Daniels, Brown, & Cajander, 2025).
The authors focus on two approaches. Conceptual analysis helps clarify what a concept actually means. For example, analysing the concept of a programming language shows that it includes elements such as syntax, meaning, data structures, and mechanisms for abstraction. Making these elements explicit helps researchers and educators better understand the foundations of computing.
However, sometimes clarification is not enough. When technology changes, concepts may also need to change. This is where conceptual engineering becomes useful. Instead of only analysing concepts, it explores whether they should be revised or redesigned.
The paper uses the concept of explanation as an example. Modern AI systems often work as complex models that are difficult to interpret. This makes it challenging to explain how a decision was reached. In areas such as education and public administration, where transparency and accountability are important, this creates new challenges.
Roger McDermott, Mats Daniels, John N. Brown, and Åsa Cajander therefore explore possible ways of rethinking explanation in AI contexts. These may include approximate explanations of influential factors, contrastive explanations that show how a decision could have been different, and institutional mechanisms such as audits that support accountability.
Together, conceptual analysis and conceptual engineering provide useful tools for understanding and adapting key ideas in computing education as technologies such as AI continue to develop.
Reference
McDermott, R., Daniels, M., Brown, J. N., & Cajander, Å. (2025, November). Conceptual Analysis and Conceptual Engineering: Methodological Issues in the Philosophy of Computing Education. In 2025 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (pp. 1–9). IEEE.
Surrounded by colleagues, friends, and family, I nailed my PhD thesis to the tree in our department yesterday. It was a simple act, but it represented years of hard work, challenges, and growth. In Scandinavia, this tradition marks the moment when the thesis becomes public, and the journey towards the defence enters its final stage. For me, it felt both grounding and uplifting.
My research focused on developing a user-friendly web-based application, Carer eSupport, designed to support informal caregivers of individuals with head and neck cancer. In Sweden, as in many other countries, cancer care has gradually shifted from hospitals to the home. Family members now carry much of the daily responsibility. These informal caregivers often step into complex roles with a little preparation. They manage medical tasks, emotional pressure, and practical coordination frequently while being excluded from healthcare processes.
This thesis provides guidelines for developing and evaluating web-based applications that support the well-being of informal caregivers. It also identifies factors that influence the acceptance and use of such applications. At its core, this work recognises caregivers as essential partners in cancer care and argues that they should not be left to manage their issues on their own.
The thesis further explores how technology can be designed to be accessible, understandable, and meaningful for vulnerable groups such as caregivers. Many caregivers have limited time, reduced energy, and varying levels of digital confidence. Designing for them requires clarity, simplicity, trust, and sensitivity to their emotional situation. A web-based application should not introduce additional complexity. Instead, it should fit into everyday life, strengthen preparedness for caregiving, and support both practical tasks and psychological needs.
Through a human-centred design and in close collaboration with caregivers and healthcare professionals, Carer eSupport was developed as an evidence-based digital intervention. The application aims not only to provide reliable information but also to support competence, autonomy, and a sense of connection. In doing so, it contributes to a broader understanding of how web-based applications can be designed to promote well-being in demanding and emotionally challenging life situations.
Looking back, this journey has been demanding, but deeply meaningful. I have learned that designing technology is not only about functionality. It is about listening carefully, understanding lived experiences, and creating something that makes daily life slightly more manageable for someone carrying heavy responsibilities.
My heartfelt thanks to everyone who made this possible. I feel deeply grateful, especially to my main supervisor, Professor Åsa Cajander, who guided me with clarity, patience, and trust throughout this journey.
Defence: March 27, 2026, at 13:15 Place: 101195, Heinz-Otto Kreiss, Ångström, Lägerhyddsvägen 1, Uppsala
Digital vård växer snabbt. Samtidigt förändras arbetsmiljön för vårdpersonal, och en fråga som fått allt mer uppmärksamhet är hot och trakasserier i digitala vårdmöten.
I forskningsprojektet DIGI-RISK studerar vi hur sådana risker uppstår och hur de kan förebyggas. Nyligen började Sofia Thunberg som postdoktor i projektet. Vi ställde några frågor för att lära känna henne och höra mer om hennes arbete.
Kan du kort presentera dig själv och din forskningsbakgrund?
Jag är doktor i kognitionsvetenskap och har en bakgrund inom människa-datorinteraktion med särskilt fokus på ny teknik i olika vårdsammanhang. Bland annat har jag forskat kring införandet av välfärdsteknik inom äldrevården, sociala robotar som psykosocialt stöd för äldre med demens på omsorgsboenden och barn med autism inom specialisttandvården, användningen av generativ AI inom primärvården samt medicintransporter med drönare. Något jag tidigt intresserade mig för var hur vårdpersonalen påverkas i sitt arbete av att ny teknik införs och jag har bland annat tittat på förekomsten av technostress.
Vad gjorde att du ville arbeta i DIGI-RISK-projektet?
Hot och trakasserier inom vården är ett stort och välkänt arbetsmiljöproblem som möjliggörs på ett nytt sätt via den digitala tekniken. Användningen av digitala vårdmöten är idag utbredd medan forskningen kring dess konsekvenser på arbetsmiljön ligger efter. Jag tycker det är spännande med ett projekt som undersöker ett sådant nytt forskningsområde och som också är väldigt relevant ur ett svenskt perspektiv.
Vad kommer du främst att arbeta med i projektet?
Mitt huvudfokus ligger på att utforma en nationell enkät där ett delmål är att validera ett nytt enkätinstrument för att mäta förekomsten och intensiteten av hot och trakasserier i digitala vårdmöten.
Vad hoppas du att forskningen ska bidra med framöver?
Jag hoppas att projektet kommer leda till ett ökat fokus på vikten av ett aktivt arbetsmiljöarbete för användningen av digitala vårdmöten och att vårdanställda kan känna sig tryggare på sin arbetsplats.
In our research group, we study the relationships and dynamics of Human, Technology, and Organisation (HTO) to create knowledge that supports sustainable development and utilization of ICT.
