Monitoring digital healthcare and social welfare

Project examines how digital transformation is reshaping the social welfare and healthcare service system from the perspectives of different stakeholder groups.

The goal is to provide reliable research-based knowledge that supports service providers and professionals in developing practices and aligning technology with them. The multi-method evaluation research is driven by real-world problems, with the ultimate aim of ensuring practical applicability of the results.

Goals

This work aims to produce research-based information on the digitalisation of social welfare and healthcare and its impact on the service system.

The outcomes include:

Up-to-date information on the development of digital services, information systems and data management across the entire service system.
Insights into professionals’ experiences with client information systems and electronic health records, as well as digital work.
Analysis of the population’s use of digital services and digital inclusion, identifying groups that remain outside the services.
Assessment of the impact of digitalisation on the service system.

Implementation

The focus is on quantitative data, such as large-scale surveys, but we also use qualitative research methods to highlight new themes and deeper perspectives. The implementation of national strategies is also monitored through research.
Statistics on digitalisation in the healthcare and social services

Funding

The monitoring study is part of THL’s ongoing, budget-funded activities, ensuring its continuity and reliability as part of national development work.

Explore the Research Results

Julkari.fi open repository can be used to search for publications related to on the Monitoring Digital Healthcare and Social welfare, please use the text digi_soten_seuranta as a keyword in the search field.

You can also search for publications from previous STePS projects with the text STePS1, STePS2, STePS3. If you want to search for publications for all the project periods, use the expression dc.subject:(STePS1 OR STePS2 OR STePS3) in the Julkari.fi search field.

Partners

In research involving professionals and organisations, an extensive collaboration network built during the STePS project periods (2013–2023) is utilised. The network includes leading experts from Aalto University, the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Lapland and the University of Oulu, as well as the Finnish Medical Association.

Internal partnerships within the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) are also utilised.