Projects

Networked Care: Intimate Matters in Online Mental Health Care (NetCare)

NetCare is funded by the Research Council of Finland (decision no. 356256) 2023-2027.

Description

By exploring online mental health support in Finland, the project produces novel knowledge on how technology provides care. The project widens the scope of feminist research on digital intimacies to online mental healthcare, opening up a novel field of research. It simultaneously examines mental vulnerabilities and digital vulnerabilities, analysing how vulnerabilities align with e.g. gender, sexuality, class, age and ethnicity, but it also considers new digital divides and their impact on mental healthcare. The data comprises interviews, online discussion threads, promotional materials and newspaper artices, and tools provided by both conventional textual analysis and by new materialist inquiry will be used as analysis methods. The results will be useful in improving mental health care, and the project contributes to sustainable mental health policy.

Project members

Research team:

Marjo Kolehmainen, PI
Academy Research Fellow
University of Turku

Areas of expertise:
Intimacy; Affect; More-than-human; Socio-material practices; Technology; Gender; Sexuality; Mental health; Well-being

Shahnaj Begum
Postdoctoral researcher
University of Turku

Areas of expertise:
Care work; Migration; Human Rights; Ageing; Digital vulnerability

Daria Kosinova
Project Reseacher
University of Turku

Areas of expertise:
Social media; Digital labour; Affect; Teletherapy; Feminist media studies

Previous project members:

Ville-Aleksi Valli
Project Reseacher 
University of Turku

Areas of expertise:
Service Work; Stigmatized Work; Care Work; Post-Fordism; Employee Well-being; Digital Activism

Affiliated researchers:

Annukka Lahti
Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies
University of Eastern Finland

Areas of expertise:
Intimacy; Sexuality; Gender; Affect; More-than-human; Psychosocial Studies; LGBTIQ+ relationships and breakups