From back-to-face to face-to-face? : Video visits slowing down the pace in homecare

Abstract

There is a belief that the pace of society is accelerating due to digital technologies, but there is also concern that these technologies will replace care staff and negatively impact the quality of care for older people. In 2023, a Swedish municipality began offering video visits to homecare users, yet little is known about the implications of this digital technology on the perception of time. This article explores the temporal effects of video visits in homecare, based on a qualitative study of 33 interviews with a digital homecare team and care users. The findings show that although video visits were generally shorter than home visits, both the digital homecare team and care users felt that video visits slowed down the pace of conversations, as the digital homecare team could focus entirely on the care users. During home visits, care staff had to perform practical tasks while conversing, leading to 'back-to-face' communication.