Computer and Stress in Social Healthcare Industries

Abstract

Social and healthcare industries offer demanding occupations, as they are very human-contact intensive workplaces and, moreover, the customers are usually met in critical and not-wished-for situations. Possible actions are many, and seldom are there clear procedures on how to continue: Each customer contact is a place for genuine decisions. Add to this deliberate service situation a computer, and you can count on difficulties. Our focus is on how information systems affect the stress levels of health and social-care workers. Our empirical study shows–among many other factors–strong correlation between the use of computers and stress levels in the healthcare professions: The more computer use, the more stress. Wediscuss what could be done to manage stress levels in relationship to computer use in health and social-care industries. In conclusion, we wrap the research findings together and propose our extensions to the current knowledge on the relationship between stress and information systems in health care. Our most important finding is that when users understand the total collaborative work setting, computer work obtains meaning, and stress levels reduce.