Developing welfare technology to increase children’s participation in child welfare assessments: an empirical case in Sweden

Figures & data

Table 1. The technical and empirical steps of the practice-based research process making the digital application feasible in child welfare investigations in a small municipality in southern Sweden.

Research activities and technical developments	2019		2020		2021		2022
Term	Spring	Autumn	Spring	Autumn	Spring	Autumn	Spring	Autumn
Step 1 – a prototype is developed	Group meetings social workers every month
Step 2 – Alfa testing		School children’s testing N = 75	Initial interviews with social workers + technical support n = 16
Step 3 – Beta testing				Social work students’ digital tests n = 8		Social work students’ IRL tests n = 54		Social work students’ IRL tests n = 24
Step 4 – Feasibility testing					Team meetings every second week, researchers, and social workers	Consents from parents (2020–2022) to child users in real welfare investigations (N = 13)	Team meetings every second week, researchers, and social workers	Follow-up interviews with social workers n = 6

Figure 1. The first page of the digital tool, Sweden 2020.

Figure 2. Expressing emotions without using words.