استفاده از سیستم های اطلاعات در کار اجتماعی – چالش ها و دستور کار برای تحقیقات آینده Use of information systems in social work – challenges and an agenda for future research

1. Introduction Information systems are vital parts of conducting social work where the systems are embedded in the social work practice. Communication and interaction between professionals of social work are increasingly being done through information systems, making these systems parts of action and decision-making in daily social work practice. Different social work professionals, as frontline social workers, managers, service planners, policy-makers, IT-staff and different contractors, communicate and collaborate on the basis of the information in social work information systems in order to get the work done. When digital information systems were introduced into the public sector, government agencies were quickly supposed to change towards the New Public Management (NPM) model and public values were redefined and more oriented towards client centricity and efficiency (Grönlund, 2001). The NPM model has since the 1980s been an approach that builds on the private sector management models in order to make the public sector more ‘businesslike’ and many scholars view the introduction of information systems in the public sector as a direct response to the NPM reform (Persson & Goldkuhl, 2010). This is not unproblematic since government organisations do not operate in the same way as private organisations and core values differ (Heeks, 2005). Burton and van den Broek (2009), in their study on social workers in Australia, showed how NPM and the implementation of new technologies have intensified tensions between professional and bureaucratic accountabilities for social workers. Information systems manage formalised information and communication about clients, cases, and decisions in the social work practice. Different kinds of information systems have been deployed and implemented in social work and human service organisations, such as online counselling systems, call centres, Internet-based applications, case management systems, tools for risk assessment and child abuse (Ley & Seelmeyer, 2008). However, research is indicating that in many instances, the information systems undermine the social work practice (Gillingham, 2013, 2015). For example, the introduction of information systems has shifted professional values and identities from social accountabilities to informational and bureaucratic accountabilities where a disproportional amount of time is spent in front of the computer instead of time spent with clients. There is a growing body of research about the use and role of information systems in social work practice, and social work information systems are gaining attention as an important field of study (Carrilio, 2008; Gillingham, 2011, 2013; Parker-Oliver & Demiris, 2006). This area is, however, still not yet well researched (Parker-Oliver & Demiris, 2006). The aim of this paper is therefore to contribute to the emerging social work information systems research agenda. Based on an extensive stakeholder-based evaluation of an information system in a Swedish social work agency, we have identified a wide range of problems and critical issues concerning the use and management of the studied case management system. In this case study (Oates, 2005), our purpose is to compare empirically grounded challenges in information system use in a Swedish social work agency with identified challenges in the literature on the use of social work information systems.