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The purpose of this paper is to understand how digital interventions are mediating the identity work of community health workers (CHWs) in the context of two African countries.

This paper analyzes the everyday work of CHWs in two low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts (Uganda and Malawi) and seeks to understand changes in collective identity and the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in mediating this “identity work”. As CHWs conduct their everyday tasks of care giving, data reporting and maintaining social interactions, they play two primary roles. One is the care giving role oriented towards the community, and two, is reporting and administrative work by virtue of them being affiliated with the Ministry of Health, either in formal or voluntary capacity. The ambivalence which they experience as they move back and forth between these two worlds of work is significantly now mediated through ICTs. The paper analyzes these dynamics and identifies three key sets of ambivalence in identity work: (1) role embracing-institutional distancing; (2) conformist-resistant and (3) dramaturgical-transformative. The paper makes unique contributions to information systems (IS) and ICT for development (ICT4D) studies in that it focuses on a nonprofessional group, which plays a fundamental role in providing care to underserved populations and also conducts data work which provides the foundation of the national health information system. This contrasts with dominant research in the field which focuses on professional groups, largely based in Western business organizations.

The paper identifies identity related tensions that emerge with the mediation of digital technologies in the work world of CHWs. These include tensions of conformist-resistant; and (3) dramaturgical-transformative. These findings are relevant and unique to the field of IS and ICT4D studies in that it focuses on a nonprofessional group, which plays a fundamental role in providing care to underserved populations and also conducts data work which provides the foundation of the national health information system.

While acknowledging identity construction and negotiation is a function of both work and social lives, in this paper we could only focus on the work lives.

As digital interventions in the health sector of low and middle income countries is becoming increasingly widespread, often the focus is more on the supply side (the supply of the technology) rather than on the demand side (users experiences and aspirations). Identity becomes a lens to understand these demand side dynamics, which helps provides practical guidance on implementation approaches to ensure that the technology adds value to user work processes and there is a seamless and not a disruptive transition.

CHWs are the most neglected cadre in the health system of low and middle income countries, even though they provide the cutting edge in care provision work to the most marginalized populations, living in rural and underserved areas. By focusing on how technologies can be more effectively implemented to support these care processes, the paper provides important social implications both for practice and research.

Analysis of identity construction and negotiation of informal groups in the unorganized sector of low and middle income countries has not received adequate attention in IS research. The paper seeks to fill this important gap.

In this chapter, we explore to what extent storylines about the internet and social media are absent or marginal in The Archers. In particular, we examine these storylines to better understand how the inhabitants of Ambridge interact online and how their online activities intersect with their real-world experiences. We compare what happens in The Archers with the moral panic that often characterises narratives of technology use and find a striking contrast that we argue supports a broader way of understanding and characterising practices of online safety and security. We analysed four social media-related Archers’ storylines from the last 24 months. Our analysis shows that The Archers storylines enable us to look at human–computer interaction in relief so that instead of only looking at how people use technology we can also see the context in which it is used and the usually unseen support structures. The Archers narratives also provide a rich picture of how the fixed space of the physical world interacts with virtual space. In the broader context, the social media storylines provide us with an understanding of how connecting, care receiving and care giving take place in both fixed space and virtual space, and how these co-connected relationships of care receiving and care giving contribute to a form of security more expansive than technologically enabled data protection.

Beginning with the understanding that healthcare serial killers differ from traditional serial killers in terms of victim selection, risk and offender behavior, this paper attempts to reconceptualize how the motivations of healthcare serial killers are understood within the scope of care‐giving environments.

Drawing on the current literature surrounding serial homicide and serial killers, the paper argues that healthcare serial killers, by virtue of their profession, have an advantage in committing homicides that are less likely to be detected.

It is found that healthcare professionals work in an environment that is conducive to anti‐social behaviour like homicide. More specifically, recurring conditions within the work place (e.g. lack of a reporting system for problem employees, code of silence amongst employees) adds to the ease with which healthcare serial killers can evade capture.

Research examining healthcare professionals who kill their patients is limited. The current paper provisionally adds to the current understanding of serial homicide. While offering various explanations as to why healthcare serial killers are difficult to detect, this paper also explores some potential solutions for the monitoring of healthcare professionals and protecting the vulnerable patients in their care.

This study aims to explore the cultural context of care‐giving amongst South Asian communities caring for a child with intellectual disabilities in the United Kingdom.

In the context of the United Kingdom's Children's Intellectual Disability Services, the study set out to develop a culturally sensitive account of Sikh and Muslim parents' experiences of caring for a child with intellectual disabilities. Focus groups were conducted with parents from Sikh and Muslim support groups who were all accessing intellectual disability services for their children. Transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, a qualitative technique.

Three master themes emerged from the analysis which were: Making sense of the disability; Feeling let down by services and Looking to the future. These themes reinforce findings from previous research particularly in relation to difficulties when making sense of the disabilities and difficult interactions with services.

The study makes recommendations for service delivery to ethnic minority groups including being aware of intra‐group variations in the interpretations and responses of South Asian parents.

Ultimately, the study makes recommendations for developing culturally sensitive support and interventions for ethnic minority groups which is important given the increase in multi‐ethnic populations in the UK.

Older people with dementia living in the community are most likely to be cared for by other older people, predominantly spouses, who will be at increased risk of stress‐related health problems themselves. Appropriate support of such carers is crucial if carer breakdown and consequent care‐receiver admission to residential homes is to be avoided. This paper examines the experience of older carers of frail older people with dementia and examines the kind of support that is provided to such carers. In practice, the sole source of professional support received by older people in this study was from community psychiatric nurses (CPNs). CPNs' role did not comprise hands‐on care‐giving and family carers carried out most personal/physical and healthcare tasks themselves, aided in some cases by care workers. The paper concludes by suggesting that lack of support for carers in these activities requires redress.

This paper presents the experiences and perspectives of practitioners involved in the delivery of intermediate care. The findings emerged from three workshops involving therapists, nurses, social workers and managers from across South Yorkshire which were designed to explore service development issues and practitioner roles in intermediate care delivery. It explores the practitioners' interpretations of intermediate care and their vision for the future of the service, and discusses the implications for services, employers and policy makers.

The purpose of this paper is to invite readers to consider a model of compassionate leadership to contribute to the prevention of abuse in collective care settings.

This paper examines a model of leadership based on theories of attachment and parenting and draws on evidence from practice. The framework, which we call Total Attachment, originated in a foster care organisation which was designed around the approach as a way of supporting carers to care for children who were, largely deemed as unfosterable. It explores literature examining workplace culture and the potential for detachment as workers try to survive their employment. It then offers an approach which has been adopted by a Safeguarding Adults partnership to implement a prevention framework into collective care settings for older people. This has placed Total Attachment at the heart of its promotion of compassionate care giving.

Consultation from the launch of the prevention framework indicated that Total Attachment had a resonance with providers and was readily understood and its value, tangible as a whole systems approach to enabling compassionate caring. The efficacy of the model in supporting workers to be resilient and effective is quantified by data from the foster organisation.

Total Attachment draws on transference of practice learning and experience across life span services. Attachment theory is largely considered a framework informing child care, however, this model recognises the attachment story across the life span.

This model shows how compassionate care can be led rather than simply taught; how carers and workers can be shown a way of working that connects deeply with their own need for care giving and care seeking.

This paper shares creative, innovative practice that can be implemented in services across the life span. It offers a model for leading compassionate care in a whole systems approach with an evidence base of its efficacy.

This article presents the key findings from a collaborative study about the experiences and support needs of carers whose relatives are admitted into a nursing or residential care home. Drawing upon data from carers' qualitative accounts, it considers carers' post‐admission roles, responsibilities and profiles, and the contribution carers make to the continued care of their relative. Carers' post‐admission caring experiences are described in detail and differences between spouse carers and carers involved in looking after a parent are identified. A temporal model depicting the complex and dynamic nature of carers' postadmission experiences is presented. The implications for policy and practice are discussed.

States that although the concept of “stress” has received increased attention in the behavioral and social sciences throughout the past five decades, it has been virtually ignored by consumer researchers. Presents conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of stress research, which suggest that many changes in individuals’ consumption behaviors are efforts to cope with stressful life circumstances. A study was conducted to test specific hypotheses about the effects of stress on consumption‐coping strategies of older adults. Results suggest that when older consumers experience stressful life circumstances, they may initiate, intensify, or change consumption activities to handle stress. Specific coping strategies were found to differ by gender. Implications for future consumer research are discussed.