Teemu Rantanen

Digitalization offers significant opportunities to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of incarcerated individuals, yet the limited digital access in prisons underscores the need to modernize prison environments. This study explores the digitalization of Finnish prisons from the perspective of incarcerated women, focusing on the concepts of digital inclusion and the “smart prison.” The study asks: How do incarcerated women perceive the significance of the smart prison? What are the main prerequisites for and challenges to digital inclusion within Finnish smart prisons? What specific characteristics are associated with the Finnish smart prison concept? The study follows a qualitative approach, with data collected through interviews with 12 incarcerated women. The findings reveal both positive and negative experiences regarding digital technologies and the smart prison environment. The study identifies that digital skills and motivation are essential to achieve digital inclusion, yet some women lack these. Restricted access to online services presents barriers, positioning staff as gatekeepers. However, the introduction of in‐cell laptops has significantly reshaped prison culture, enhancing interaction between prison staff and incarcerated individuals, which emphasizes the role of staff in facilitating access and supporting the use of digital services through motivational interaction. The research indicates that the Finnish smart prison combines ICT infrastructure with rehabilitative and face‐to‐face interaction, aiming to align prison conditions with those of society outside, in accordance with the principle of normality. However, full adherence to this principle remains challenging due to factors such as security concerns.

This article explores Finnish social workers’ views on using digital technologies to support individuals transitioning from prison to society. A study based onthe Fit Between Individuals, Tasks, Technology, and Environment (FITTE) framework, digital divide research and a relationship-based approach, with interviews with 19 social workers, reveals that digitalisation improves resource allocation, service availability and communication within collaborative networks. Challenges include underdeveloped digital tools, limited client access and skills, and difficulties in conducting assessments and building trust online. The question of whether a confidential relationship can be formed digitally remains contested. Hybrid practices are highlighted as essential for ensuring a smooth reintegration process.

Digitalisation creates opportunities for prisons to promote incarcerated people’s rehabilitation and re-entry into society. This study explores how access to the internet and digital services during imprisonment supports incarcerated women’s digital agency and re-entry into society in the Finnish context. Data (from a total of 37 interviews) were collected during a two-year fieldwork study by utilising an ethnographic and qualitative approach. The results show that the opportunity to use the internet and digital services can support incarcerated women’s re-entry into society, especially when digital interaction is combined with humane encounters, which is characteristic of Nordic criminal policy. However, the study found shortcomings in the digital agency of the incarcerated women, particularly in the areas of digital skills, access and the possibility of independent use digital services. Restrictions on its use are based on security concerns as well as on assumptions of incarcerated women’s deficient digital agency and an instrumental interpretation of normality.

Incarcerated people face many social and health challenges, and have particular support and rehabilitation needs. The digitisation of services enables the efficient provision of different services including those used during imprisonment. The objective of this study is to investigate the significance of trust in the use of digital social and healthcare services among incarcerated people. Many studies have found that trust has an effect on intention to use digital social and healthcare services; however, the matter has not been studied among incarcerated people. This study asks two principal questions: How do incarcerated people's levels of trust in the internet and social and healthcare services affect their intention to use digital services? What factors explain incarcerated people's levels of trust? A cross‐sectional survey (n = 225) was carried out in 11 prisons in Finland and the results analysed using the Pearson product–moment correlation coefficient, a two‐tailed t‐test, and linear regression analysis. Since prisons are a quite unique context from the point of view of the use of digital services and there is no previous research on trust in digital social and healthcare services among incarcerated people, the statistical analysis was supplemented with qualitative interview data (n = 18). The study shows the importance of trust in relation to the use of digital social and healthcare services among incarcerated people. Previous use of services is positively associated with trust, and deficiencies in basic digital skills are negatively associated with trust. The qualitative analysis reveals that positive experiences of the trustworthiness of social and healthcare services do not always lead to affective trust. The community and social impact statement for this article can be found in the Supporting Information.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has increased worldwide mental health conditions, substantially affecting the demand and provision of mental health services. To continue services and safeguard the health and well-being of mental health service users, service providers have responded to the pandemic with the adoption of remote services. The objective of our study was to identify and compare the promoters and challenges of the adoption of remote mental health services experienced by service users in Finland and the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic with help of the FITTE framework. Methods The study adopted a qualitative descriptive approach, consisting of in-depth semi-structured interviews with mental health service users in Finland (n = 12) and the Netherlands (n = 13) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative content analysis with both inductive and deductive approach was utilized, and the extended FITTE framework was applied to identify the factors related to the fit between individual, task, technology, and environment that influenced the adoption of remote services. Results Overall, the adoption of remote mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic involved several promoters related to easy access to mental health services, support for mental health and well-being, and benefits of the home environment such as not having to leave outside for services and having less risk of getting the corona virus. Most of the challenges were related to lack of non-verbal communication, difficulties with expressing oneself and interpreting others, technological issues, the organization of remote services, usability and suitability of services, affinity of the health professional with the provision of remote services, and the safety and security of remote services. Conclusions While remote services are accessible, support our well-being and mental health and protect us against the coronavirus, our findings also show that face-to-face contact was often indispensable when adopting mental health services. Therefore, the design of future mental health services should include both remote and face-to-face delivery. Further research should be done on blended approaches and on ways in which the challenges and development needs which emerged from this study can be tackled to improve remote mental health services.

Purpose: With digitisation, a new kind of inequality has emerged in society between people and groups of people. A lack of digital inclusion creates challenges for the economic and social development of society and citizen participation. This study analyses how the country-level cultural factors defined by Hofstede are associated with citizens' digital skills and internet usage and how they moderate the effects of age, gender, educational level and income level.Design/methodology/approach: This comparative cross-sectional study examines digital inclusion in 22 European countries. Data from the European Social Survey (N = 37,602) are analysed using a two-level regression analysis.Findings: The study found significant effects of demographic and socio-economic factors and country-level indulgence on digital skills and internet usage. In addition, the study shows that a high value on the indulgence index moderates the negative effect of age.Originality/value: The digital divide has been studied widely with regard to individual-level influencing factors and international comparisons. The significance of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in terms of digitisation and digital divides has also been confirmed in previous studies. However, there is a lack of analysis combining the effects of country-level culture and individual-level demographic and socio-economic factors on citizens' digital skills and internet usage. Generally, the research emphasises the significance of national culture in digital inclusion and especially in supporting the digital inclusion of older adults.

This article examines the relationship between digital proficiency, trust in service providers, and the intention to use digital health care and social welfare services among prisoners and people with mental health conditions in Finland. Based on cross-sectional data, which includes responses from 225 prisoners and 120 people with mental health conditions between September 2020 and May 2021, a study utilizing latent profile analysis (LPA) reveals that although high digital skills were observed, trust in providers of digital services within the health care and social welfare sector remained low, particularly among younger participants. Despite trust issues, the intention to use digital services remained high, particularly among inmates. This suggests that trust is not the sole factor influencing digital service adoption; age and perceived digital competence also play significant roles. Prisoners demonstrated higher levels of advanced internet skills than individuals with mental health backgrounds, possibly due to overestimating their abilities. Alternative approaches, such as social support and hands-on learning, are vital for enhancing digital skills in socially marginalized groups. Understanding these determinants can guide policymakers and practitioners in developing targeted interventions to promote digital inclusion effectively by considering broadly the factors that promote the accessibility of digital health care and social welfare services. Future research combining objective proficiency testing and self-reported data can offer deeper insights for more successful strategies.

Background: The digitization of health care and social welfare services creates many opportunities for the rehabilitation of incarcerated people and their preparation for release from prison. A range of digital platforms and technology solutions have been developed that offer multiple opportunities to handle private matters either by video conference, email, or some other digital format during imprisonment. However, incarcerated people have limited access to digital health care and social welfare services, and face challenges related to shortcomings in their digital skills and self-efficacy. Objective: This article assessed the significance of incarcerated people’s self-efficacy in terms of their sense of control over the use of digital health care and social welfare services. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire. Research data were collected from 11 prisons in different parts of Finland, and a total of 225 incarcerated people responded to the survey. Statistical analyses were conducted using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, 2-tailed t test, linear regression analysis, and Hayes bootstrapping method. Results: The results showed the significance of both general and internet-specific self-efficacy, which appear to be more important for the use of digital health care and social welfare services than factors related to a person’s socioeconomic background or sentence. Age was negatively correlated with perceived control over the use of digital health care and social welfare services. Furthermore, the study emphasized the importance of support from family and friends, as well as prison employees. Conclusions: The digitalization of prisons offers many opportunities, but special consideration should be given to how the digitization of health care and social welfare services responds to the needs of incarcerated people in terms of their integration into society and the prevention of recidivism. During imprisonment, attention should be paid to strengthening the digital skills of incarcerated people, with support provided by prison employees. In addition to providing guidance on the use of individual digital services, the study recommends strengthening the general digital skills of incarcerated people, as well as developing their life management skills.