| 1. |
- Cajander, Åsa
(författare)
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Values and perspectives affecting IT systems development and usability work
- 2006
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Computer supported work is often stressful and inadequate computer systems and poor usability contribute to the problem. Still the work situation, and work environment of users are seldom considered when developing computer systems, and it is difficult to incorporate the ideas of User Centred Systems Design (UCSD) in practice. Hence, this research addresses the difficulty in integrating usability, UCSD and occupational health issues in IT systems development in order to improve the resulting work situation and well-being of users. How do basic values and perspectives of stakeholders in systems development projects affect the work with UCSD, usability and users’ health issues in the organisations studied?This research aims at influencing systems development in practice; hence, research is carried out in real life settings with an action research approach. Data is gathered and analysed with a qualitative research approach with interview studies, meetings with stakeholders, analysis of documentation, observations and field studies. The theoretical framework adheres to situated action, participatory design, and UCSD that stresses the importance of involving users in the design process.This research shows that several basic values and perspectives affect systems development and hinder the usability work, for example, the perspective on user representatives, the value of rationality and objectivity, and the perspective underpinning descriptions and discourse on work. Moreover, this research indicates that the strong business values of automation, efficiency and customer satisfaction shape the development of new technology, and ultimately the tasks and work practices of the civil servants. In short, the studies show that there are some contradictions in business values and the implementation of user-centred systems design, usability and health issues in systems development.Attitudes and perspectives are not easily changed, and change comes gradually. In these organisations, we continuously discuss the integration of health issues in systems development, and by introducing and changing the models of systems development these will hopefully enable communication and change forwards of new perspectives and values. However, a focus on models alone is insufficient and therefore we need to develop a systematic approach to include reflection and new perspectives. Perhaps the reflection itself would help us see our values and perspectives and to alter them?
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| 2. |
- Golay, Diane
(författare)
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An invisible burden : An experience-based approach to nurses' daily work life with healthcare information technology
- 2019
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been an increasingly pervasive component of most workplaces throughout the past half century. In healthcare, the turn to the digital has resulted into the broad implementation of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT). The impacts of ICT on work life have been investigated predominantly through surveys, although some researchers have advocated for the use of a qualitative, experience-based approach. Meanwhile, the existing body of research on the impacts of HIT on clinicians has painted a mixed picture of digitalization. Despite some clear benefits, HIT has indeed been found to have unexpected, unintended adverse consequences for hospital staff. Typical issues include loss in efficiency, extra effort to carry out routine tasks, and the creation of new, HIT-induced work activities. Simultaneously, research outside of the healthcare domain has shown that ICT could require extra effort from some users in order for the sociotechnical system to function properly – extra work often invisible to developers.Based on observation, interview and focus group data collected at a large Swedish hospital, this thesis set out to investigate the impact of HIT on hospital nurses from an experience-based perspective, resulting in four main contributions. First, a method supporting experience-based data analysis, the HolisticUX method, is introduced. Second, 13 forms of HIT-induced additional tasks in nurses' workload are identified, five of which are not acknowledged in previous research. Third, task avoidance is identified as a consequence of nurses' increased workload, negatively affecting patient safety, care quality and nurses' professional satisfaction. Finally, four factors are argued to contribute to a suggested invisibility of the HIT-induced time burden in nurses' work life to management and developers: 1) lack of a holistic perspective, 2) the hidden cost of a single click, 3) the invisibility of nursing work, and 4) visible data, invisible work.
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| 3. |
- Lind, Thomas, 1986-
(författare)
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Change and resistance to change in health care : Inertia in sociotechnical systems
- 2014
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores change and resistance to change of IT systems in organisations from a sociotechnical perspective. The work is drawing on empirical data gathered during two Action Research projects in Swedish Health Care: one regarding the deployment of electronic patient record systems within health care organisations, and the other regarding the deployment of eHealth services geared towards patients and citizens. Resistance to change is classified as an indicator of social inertia, and the concept of counter-implementation, comprising three general strategies to obstruct change initiatives, is used to highlight the political aspects of social inertia. For the analysis, the concept of social inertia is used as a point of departure towards inertia in sociotechnical systems by applying values and principles from sociotechnical systems research, most prominently the interdependence-characteristic. This extended concept is used to show and discuss how IT systems can either enforce change or be a source of inertia preventing change in organisations, and such planned or inadvertent effects of implementing IT systems are discussed as a significant source of user resistance.
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