Uncovering the Complexity of Care Networks

In homecare, networks are formed by professional, semiprofessional, and informal actors, who collaborate to care for people in need. Modern information and communication technology (ICT) might play an important role to enhance cooperation in homecare networks. Through infrastructuring work, the authors seek to build a comprehensive understanding of the types of collaboration complexity in homecare networks to determine if, when and which technologies are most suitable. This paper examines how homecare networks can be classified according to collaboration complexity. A four-stage research design was followed to develop a taxonomy for homecare collaboration. The taxonomy was applied to 21 care networks, and five types of homecare networks were identified. The taxonomy considers network, tasks, and communication particularities across 13 dimensions, each of which includes three characteristics. Three clusters were identified as more likely than the others to benefit from increased technology use. The taxonomy and archetypes highlight which homecare network types could benefit from increased technology use. Additionally, the taxonomy allows for an iterative re-evaluation of networks to initiate measures for improvement.