Designing for Resistance: Analyzing Data Work Among Direct Service Providers

Information systems, such as electronic health records (EHRs) and case note software, increasingly support direct service providers (DSPs) in social service administration. Previous scholarship examined how these digital interventions enhance care but also create unintended consequences for DSPs and their clients. Despite broad interest in how DSPs and other frontline social service workers utilize information technology, few studies examine how they avoid digital tools, particularly when documentation stakes are high for both clients and DSPs. We report findings from interviews with 16 DSPs, who remain keenly aware that the information they document may become visible to others now and in the future. To protect themselves and their clients, they develop practices to resist recording data in digital records such as EHRs. We offer a typology of resistant data practices and design considerations grounded in the experiences and understanding of power within the roles of DSPs.