Key misconceptions when assessing digital technology for municipal youth social work

ABSTRACT

Municipal youth protection work has become infused with digital technology, and yet there is still limited research on how to assess the impact of digital technology on municipal youth social work. This article reviews a range of misconceptions regarding the assessment of digital technology for youth social work in municipal contexts. This review was generated in connection with the development of an app system for communication between young clients and their municipal social workers in Denmark. The misconceptions relate to: variations in technologies and contexts; the impact of digital technologies on the relationship; social justice; differentiating between the user and the digital technology; digitalization and standardization; stakeholder and functional models of municipal social work. The paper concludes that the relationship between municipal social work and digital technology is complex and that thus complex comprehensions of municipal social work practice are needed if the relationship between technologies and practice is to be grasped adequately. The paper argues that given the complexity of the field and the speed of technological and legal changes, external support with regard to assessing how to use, develop and incorporate digital technology needs to be made available to municipalities and social workers.

ABSTRAKT

Kommuners sociale arbejde med unge er stærkt påvirket af digital teknologi, selv om der kun er begrænset forskning, der vurderer indflydelsen af digital teknologi på myndighedsarbejdet med unge. Artiklen præsenterer en række misforståelser i vurderingen af digital teknologier, som den udvikles i kommunerne. De fremkom i forbindelse med udviklingen af et app system, hvis formål var at forbedre kommunikationen mellem unge og deres myndighedssagsbehandlere i Danmark. Misforståelserne handler om: hvordan teknologier og kontekster varierer; hvordan teknologier påvirker relationen til sagsbehandleren; hvordan digitalisering påvirker social retfærdighed; skelnen mellem teknologien og brugen af den; digitalisering og standardisering; interessante og funktionelle modeller for myndighedsarbejde. Artiklen konkluderer, at forholdet mellem myndighedsarbejde og digital teknologi er komplekst, og udviklingen af digitale teknologier må basere sig på en forståelse for kompleksiteten. Artiklen hævder, at ekstern støtte bør stilles til rådighed for kommuner og sagsbehandlere, når de skal bruge, udvikle og implementere digital teknologi, der tager højde for feltets kompleksitet og ikke mindst hastigheden hvormed teknologien og det juridiske grundlag ændrer sig.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth
• social work
• digital technology
• assessment
• implementation

NØGLEORD:

• Unge
• myndighedsarbejde
• digital teknologi
• teknologivurdering
• implementering
• socialt arbejde

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Thomas Mackrill is a senior lecturer in Social Work at Metropolitan University College in Copenhagen. Thomas is a clinical, research and consultant psychologist and has worked with a wide range of client groups in the public and private sector. After years of working with clinical and counselling psychology, Thomas has begun to focus on statutory social work, and is particularly interested in exploring the connections between these two fields.

Frank Ebsen is a reader in Social Work at Metropolitan University College in Copenhagen. He has been engaged in social work research for many years and worked with many different vulnerable groups in a wide variety of organizational settings. Frank is currently researching child protection, decision-making, while developing and implementing new ways of conducting casework.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Tryg Foundation.