Digital agency of vulnerable people as experienced by rehabilitation professionals

Abstract

The continued spread of digital technology and the digitalization of public services influence the human agency of individuals by requiring new ways and forms of action. In this article, we describe the digital inclusion and digital agency of people belonging to vulnerable groups, based on focus group interviews of rehabilitation professionals working with the target groups. The theory-driven content analysis of six focus groups consisting of a total of 26 interviewees is based on (Jyrk¨am¨a, 2008) [1] framework of modality-based agency. The results highlight that the digital agency of the clients belonging to the vulnerable groups is constructed in shared actions with the rehabilitation professionals. The rehabilitation setting creates an agentic space that enables the clients to act in the digital world. The study contributes to the discussion of the digital inclusion and exclusion of vulnerable groups. In a digitalizing society, the digital agency of the people belonging to vulnerable groups should be acknowledged and addressed in policy practices, as well as in designing and providing digital services. Particularly, given that agency has been mainly studied from a personal point of view, in this respect the current study adds a new dimension to the studies on agency.