Digital care and technology acceptance: Care users' experiences of using tablets in Swedish home care

In many countries, welfare organisations have adopted a 'digital first' approach. However, a major challenge for welfare organisations is to provide more and better-equipped digital services, while ensuring that they do not create higher thresholds for accessing welfare services. This article is based on a qualitative interview study with care users who received video visits from home care in Sweden and it aims to explore how care users perceive their digital skills and experience using tablets with a video visit programme, as well as understand how digital care relates to technology acceptance and temporality. Regardless of digital skills and interest in digital technologies, care users found the tablets and video visit programmes easy to use. However, there was a tension between simplicity and flexibility, and digital home care seemed to prioritise ease of use over usefulness. Technical issues became easier to handle with time and experience.