Digital screen visits in home care services: caring for older patients with a minority background

The use of digital technology is increasing in home care services in Denmark. In the municipality of Copenhagen digital screens visits are being used as an alternative version of the traditional (physical) home visit to a selected population to increase quality and efficiency in the home care services. The aim of this pilot study is to investigate how the intercultural communication is used during digital home visits in a
Copenhagen community when caring for older patients with a minority ethnic background. Methods: document analysis teaching material including two video cases combined with participant observation of
three selected screen visits with older patients with a minority ethnic background. Analysis: thematic analysis based on a hermeneutic approach. Primarily results indicate that older patients with a minority ethnic background are screened out during the recruitment phase for digital home visits due to expected communication difficulties. Included patients with a minority ethnic background are younger, relative independent from the start point and drop out before completed care plan. In addition, the screen visit seems to appeal to some patients with a minority ethnic background. Surprisingly, we found that screen visits might help some patients with major language communication difficult ies to care for their health in better ways than they were able to when helped though a traditional
home visit. It is our hope that this study will contribute with new knowledge to promote cultural competences in the digital world.