Algorithmic management can potentially improve healthcare delivery, for example, in community-based healthcare in low-and middle-income countries. However, most research neglects the user perspective and focuses on health-related outcomes. Consequently, we know little about the effects of algorithmic management on the user: community health workers. This paper reports on a 12-week pilot study in ComBaCaL, a community-based healthcare project tackling the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). We evaluate the Community Health Toolkit (CHT), a digital tool designed to support CHWs in community-based NCD care. We find that CHT is generally suitable for this purpose and can help CHWs to assume broader responsibilities. However, its design creates a tension between control and autonomy when confronted with reality. This tension could lead to disempowerment and attrition among CHWs. We propose design adaptations for CHT’s task scheduling, balancing the socio-technical system to resolve the tension between control and autonomy.
CITATION STYLE
Staehelin, D., Dolata, M., Peyer, N., Gerber, F., & Schwabe, G. (2023). Algorithmic Management for Community Health Worker in Sub-Saharan Africa: Curse or Blessing? In Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) (Vol. 14144 LNCS, pp. 94–114). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42286-7_6
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