The new research examines what kind of burden digital self‐service and algorithmic decision‐making poses to people with mental health problems. This research was motivated by the question of what kinds of costs people with mental health problems incur due to the digital administrative burdens. Using citizen science methodology, we expored how these burdens faced by mental health rehabilitees affect their identity and self‐perception. The data gathered comprises audio‐recorded group discussions with mental health rehabilitees.
Based on the data, it was demonstrated that digital citizen–state encounters create subject positions for mental health rehabilitees that portray them as dispossessed, unreliable, insignificant, and inferior. The positioning of mental health rehabilitees highlights how administrative burdens in digital citizen–state encounters contribute to social exclusion, preventing the full realisation of their citizenship.
The people from the job
market service who make
decisions about my ability to
work or other things do not
trust me; they want to know
about me and ask for
information because they
think I’m cheating.
Most participants in the group discussions viewed themselves as somehow irregular and
exceptional cases, i.e., automated systems did not provide enough human discretion and professional help to meet their needs. Public services and automated systems are unable to correct existing problems of exclusion in society or the underlying causes of distrust between citizens and the state. Instead, they tend to reproduce these issues in digital form or, at worst, exacerbate the problems further.
More info: Palukka, H., Koski, A., Parviainen, J., & Eilola, L. (2025). Experiencing Social Exclusion and Distrust: Mental Health Rehabilitees Struggling With Digital Administrative Burdens. Social Inclusion, 13, Article 9950. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.9950