Service-Access Pathways in Digitised Community Social Work: A Socio-Technical Case Study

Abstract

Digitised community social-work services distribute access across digital, assisted, in-person, and outreach routes. This qualitative case study addresses a service-system problem: support can complete one task while the route to the next service stage and professional contact remains uncertain. Station A in Guangdong, China, was analysed through semi-structured interviews with 20 participants—eight older service users, six family members, three frontline social workers, one station manager, and two community volunteers—together with observation, service and activity records, platform materials, and policy documents. Eight focal service-user accounts formed the comparison. The analysis developed six case-derived access positions: independent digital access, assisted transition, visit-dependent contact, scheduled outreach, entry blockage, and informal fallback. Across these positions, service access depended on the fit among service stage, task requirements, scope of assistance, route convertibility, and professional-contact conditions. Registration assistance enabled entry in one episode, followed by an in-person route for the next service task. Offline routes produced contact conditions ranging from visit-dependent contact to scheduled outreach. The article develops stage–route–contact alignment to explain how support for one task and the route available for the next shape service continuity. The framework links these arrangements to the timing, directness, and continuity of professional contact.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Systems, 2026 · DOI ↗