Digital Shapeshifting
Digital Shapeshifting is a research program within the area of Health-promoting working life. The aim of the program is to attempt to understand the various ways in which digitalisation can be health-promoting.
Digital Shapeshifting is an interdisciplinary research program that explores the relationship between digitalization and health promotion efforts. The research analyses how digitalisation is transforming professional roles, work processes, organisational structures, and relationships between professionals and their clients/patients/students, etc.
The program explores both opportunities and challenges from a societal perspective, with a particular focus on issues of inclusion, sustainable work practices, continuous learning, and digital competence. Overall, the research aims to shape a digital existence that promotes well-being, counteracts stress and inequality, and leads to enriched relationships and strengthened professionalism. Research on digitalisation and health promotion also integrates ethical aspects into the societal challenges identified below. The program aims to contribute new knowledge on how we can utilise the opportunities of digitalisation while managing its risks and challenges.
Overarching Societal Challenges
a) Ensuring that digitalisation within health promotion is inclusive and does not marginalise certain groups.
b) Developing socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable digital work practices that promote well-being and counteract stress.
Examples of overarching questions being explored include:
- How are various professional roles and professions transformed by digitalisation?
- What new competencies are required in a digitalised work environment?
- How is the relationship between professionals and clients/students/patients affected?
- What are the ethical implications of digitalisation within various fields of operation?
The program's research focuses on three spheres
- Digitalisation of Work Progress and Organisational Structures
- Digital Competence, Education and Learning
- Changing Relationships and Professional Roles
Sphere 1: Digitalisation of Work Processes and Organisational Structures
This sphere focuses on how digital tools and technologies are transforming the execution and organisation of work across various professions. The research investigates new digital work processes and organisational forms that are emerging, as well as their consequences for efficiency, work environment, and well-being.
Specific Societal Challenge: To develop socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable digital work processes that promote well-being and counteract stress.
Example Questions:
- How are work processes and flows altered when they are digitalised?
- What new organizational and leadership forms are enabled by digitalisation?
- How are the work environment and well-being affected as work becomes increasingly digitalised?
Integrated Ethics:
Digitalisation offers new opportunities but also risks as the work landscape changes. Research should therefore explore the processes triggered by new digital work processes and automation and their consequences for human labour. Central questions include how to promote well-being and counteract stress in a digitalised workday. Ethical aspects such as privacy, surveillance, and control also need to be analyzed as work becomes digitalised.
Sphere 2: Digital Competence, Education, and Learning
This sphere focuses on the digital competence required in today's and future work environments. The research investigates the need for continuous, lifelong learning to maintain digital competence across various professions. It also aims to develop effective ways to educate for digital competence. High digital competence is a prerequisite for utilising the opportunities of digitalisation and minimising the risks.
Specific Societal Challenge:
To educate for digital competence while maintaining professional autonomy.
Example Questions:
- What digital competencies are needed in various professions today and in the future?
- How can one effectively educate for digital competence?
- How can professionals maintain digital competence through continuous learning?
Integrated Ethics:
Research should explore how to ensure that everyone has access to education to achieve digital competence. This involves avoiding a digital knowledge gap between different groups in society. As governance through manuals and algorithms emerges, professional autonomy and experience-based knowledge need to be safeguarded in the workplace.
Sphere 3: Changing Relationships and Professional Roles
This sphere investigates how relationships between professionals and their clients/patients/students are changing due to digitalisation. As work becomes more technology-mediated, interpersonal aspects are affected. The research analyses how professional roles are redefined and what ethical questions this raises. The goal is to understand how digital tools can be used to enrich relationships and strengthen professionalism.
Specific Societal Challenge:
To ensure that digitalisation within the workforce is inclusive and does not marginalise certain groups.
Example Questions:
- How do digital tools affect relationships between professionals and clients/patients/students, etc.?
- How are various professional roles redefined by increased digitalisation and automation?
- What ethical questions arise when professions and relationships are digitalised?
Integrated Ethics:
Research should investigate risks such as digital tools creating distance between professionals and their clients. Inclusion is an important issue—how can one counteract the exclusion of certain groups in a digitalised workday? At the same time, there are opportunities to enrich relationships through digital tools, which should also be studied.
A selection of ongoing research
- The dark side of digitalisation in primary care – unannounced careseekers affect the psychosocial work environment
- Digital educational intervention for nurses within municipal healthcare
- Digital continuity of patient care
Contact
If you are interested in further information about health-promoting digitalisation and how you can contribute to finding the solution to societal challenges, you are very welcome to get in touch with any of the researchers that are part of the program.
Publications
Crafoord, M., Sundberg, K., Nilsson, M., Fjell, M. & Langius-Eklöf, A. (2023). Patients' Individualized Care Perceptions and Health Literacy Using an Interactive App During Breast and Prostate Cancer Treatment. Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 41 (9), 706-716. 10.1097/cin.0000000000001007 External link. [Mer information] External link.
Masoumi, D. & Noroozi, O. (2023). Developing early career teachers’ professional digital competence: a systematic literature review. European Journal of Teacher Education. 10.1080/02619768.2023.2229006 External link. [Mer information] External link.
Salzmann-Erikson, M. (2023). Digital inclusion: A mixed-method study of user behavior and content on Twitter. Digital Health, 9. 10.1177/20552076231211277 External link. [Mer information] External link.
Salzmann-Erikson, M. & Eriksson, H. (2023). A Mapping Review of Netnography in Nursing. Qualitative Health Research, 33 (8-9), 701-714. 10.1177/10497323231173794 External link. [Mer information] External link.
Zammit, D., Tomaselli, G., Buttigieg, S., Garg, L. & Macassa, G. (2023). Digital virtual consultations and improved stakeholders’ health and wellbeing amongst hospital doctors. Sustainability, 15 (5). 10.3390/su15054428 External link. [Mer information] External link.
Andersson, J., Cole, E. & Trygged, S. (2022). När hjälpen finns på Facebook : Om försummade behov och nya hjälpformer. Socialmedicinsk Tidskrift, 99 (4), 509-521. Länk External link. [Mer information] External link.
Ramasamy, L., Khan, F., Shah, M., Prasad, B., Iwendi, C. & Biamba, C. (2022). Secure Smart Wearable Computing through Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems for Health Monitoring. Sensors, 22 (3). 10.3390/s22031076 External link. [Mer information] External link.
Salzmann-Erikson, M. (2023). Integrating technology in aged care: challenges, opportunities, and a nursing lens. Contemporary Nurse : health care across the lifespan, 59 (6), 413-415. 10.1080/10376178.2023.2291119 External link. [Mer information] External link.
Andersson, R. & Björsell, N. (2023). The Technical Challenges in Orthotic Exoskeleton Robots with Future Directions: a Review Paper. : IEEE. 10.1109/ITIKD56332.2023.10099850 External link. [Mer information] External link.
Blomqvist, E., Lindecrantz, M., Blomsma, F., Lambrix, P. & De Meester, B. (2022). Decentralized Digital Twins of Circular Value Networks - A Position Paper. Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Semantic Digital Twins : Co-located with the 19th Extended Semantic Web Conference (ESWC 2022): CEUR Workshop Proceedings. Länk External link. External link. [Mer information] External link.
To see all publications from the Digital Shapeshifting research program, visit the research program page in DiVA External link.
Programme Officers
Contact Annakarin Olsson if you have questions about the research project or read more about her research and see her publications in the researcher presentation.
Martin Salzmann-Erikson
Ph.D., Associate Professor in Nursing Science
Contact Martin Salzmann-Erikson if you have questions about the research programme or read more about his research and see his publications in the researcher presentation.
Contact Sven Blomqvist if you have questions about the research programme or read more about his research and his publications in the researcher presentation.
This page was last updated 2025-06-09