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Use of ICT in Finnish Social Welfare - Situation in 2011

Authors:
Jarmo Kärki
Maarit Laaksonen
Hannele Hyppönen

Keywords: social care; social services; private social welfare service providers; ICT; electronic information management; client information systems

Abstract:
National level monitoring of adoption and use of information systems is becoming common practice, providing one set of indicators for success of e-health policies. This is not the case in social welfare, in spite of advancing national e-welfare policies. This article presents results of a national web-based survey of availability and use of electronic social services and social welfare client information systems in Finland. The survey conducted in 2011 was targeted at managers or IT-leaders of public and private service provider organizations. The results show that the majority of social welfare service providers in municipalities have a client information system (CIS). A half of the public social welfare organizations use mobile systems for some purposes. Private service providers use CIS's somewhat less than local authorities. Small private enterprises generally do not have CIS's. Not all social welfare employees have a personal workstation. Information exchange between organizations is limited to read-only. There is little exchange of information between information systems. Internet access is more commonly available. Providers of social welfare services generally have a website with information on their operations. Public service providers are more likely to have their own IT personnel than private service providers. The percentage of CIS investment costs out of total ICT costs varies greatly from one organization to another. Local authorities invest more in ICT than private service providers. The development of e-welfare services has been rather slow over the past decade. Results will be used in development of national information services for social care in Finland.

Pages: 91 to 95

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2012

Publication date: October 21, 2012

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2326-9294

ISBN: 978-1-61208-228-8

Location: Venice, Italy

Dates: from October 21, 2012 to October 26, 2012