Abstract
In the last decades, nursing homes in Denmark, have become increasingly data-oriented, with the expectation that more digital data enable more person-centred and effective care practices. On basis of ethnographic fieldwork at three nursing homes in the capital of Denmark, we explore how data about care is produced and travel within the nursing homes and become powerful claims of evidence. We illustrate how nursing home data can be considered as socio-material constructions and highlight the professional data work it takes to produce data. Drawing on recent work in Critical Data Studies, and an ‘Ethics in Practice approach’ to professional care work, we show how data work and processes of datafication might interfere with ideals and values associated with what is considered ‘good care’ and demonstrate that information about situated care practices do not always travel well as data. The paper concludes by addressing the risk, that the partial nature of nursing home data, might render aspects of care invisible and hereby undermine the situated and creative care practices, that are necessary if we are to enable true person- centred care.
Recommended Citation
Christensen, Mie Winther and Schwennesen, Nete, "Data Journeys in Nursing Homes. The visibility and invisibility of care work" (2025). SJIS Preprints (Forthcoming). 25.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/sjis_preprints/25