University of Bologna, Department of Sociology and Business Law, Strada Maggiore 45, Bologna, Italy.
Soc Sci Med. 2024 Sep;357:117185. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117185. Epub 2024 Aug 5.
This paper investigates how healthcare professionals experience digital platforms in their work practices and how these relationships enable forms of emotional labour and contribute to shaping their emotional health. Methodologically, the contribution draws on audio-diaries kept by 15 healthcare professionals and a final semi-structured interview conducted with the same informants. The research material was analysed using open and axial coding techniques, in a grounded theory fashion. Findings provides meaningful insights to the literature on the emotional labour of healthcare professionals, as well as to studies on digital health and labour. Specifically, we show that participants associate different and even contrasting reflections and emotional states with their relationships with digital platforms. Thus, there is not exclusively one trajectory that can explain the implications of media uses, as different and potentially conflicting emotions coexist within the same experience. Given this scenario, we argue that it can be fruitful to use the lens of 'ambiguity' to scrutinise the ambivalences and tensions characterising platform experiences, and how emotional labour in healthcare intertwines with technological developments. Moreover, we advocate for the development of critical digital literacy skills among healthcare professionals.
本文探讨了医疗保健专业人员在工作实践中如何体验数字平台，以及这些关系如何使情感劳动成为可能，并有助于塑造他们的情感健康。在方法论上，这一贡献借鉴了 15 名医疗保健专业人员撰写的音频日记和对同一信息提供者进行的最后一次半结构化访谈。研究材料采用扎根理论的方式，通过开放式和轴向编码技术进行分析。研究结果为医疗保健专业人员情感劳动的文献以及数字健康和劳动的研究提供了有意义的见解。具体来说，我们表明，参与者将不同的、甚至相反的反思和情绪状态与他们与数字平台的关系联系起来。因此，并不是只有一条轨迹可以解释媒体使用的影响，因为在相同的体验中存在不同的、潜在冲突的情绪。在这种情况下，我们认为，使用“模糊性”的视角来仔细研究平台体验的矛盾和紧张之处，以及医疗保健中的情感劳动如何与技术发展交织在一起，是富有成效的。此外，我们提倡在医疗保健专业人员中培养批判性数字素养技能。
