Community Care Stakeholders’ Reflection on Using Telepresence Robots as a Tool to Reduce School Absence for Children and Young People with Chronic Illness in the Scandinavian Municipalities

Chronic illness negatively affects education due to school absence. Telepresence robots can be a valuable educational tool for reducing school absence among students with chronic illnesses. This study aimed to investigate the reflections of Scandinavian community care stakeholders on telepresence robots as a tool to reduce school absence for students with chronic illnesses in the education system. We conducted fifteen semi-structured interviews and four focus group interviews with 25 community care stakeholders. Our study used the interpretive description methodology and Edgar Schein's organizational culture as the theoretical lens. The analysis identified three categorical themes and six subthemes: The action of integrating telepresence robots into the education system, the telepresence robots as a pathway to educational opportunities, and the adoption and management of telepresence robots. Our findings showed that stakeholders had to motivate and communicate the purpose of telepresence robots to reduce skepticism among multiple people in the school environment. Our study provides insights into the barriers and challenges to integrating and adopting telepresence robots in the Scandinavian education systems, as well as how stakeholders should communicate with and support the education system during their implementation.