Navigating the digital shift: Working conditions and employee health in digital social care

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of online counselling in social care, a development that may permanently alter professional practices. However, the full extent of its utilisation, associated occupational risks, and impacts on health remain underexplored. This study investigates the effects of digitisation on the traditionally face-to-face profession of counselling. We conducted a cross-sectional web survey involving 1049 German counsellors to examine the prevalence of online counselling, remote work, and their associations with occupational risks and health outcomes such as musculoskeletal symptoms, cognitive fatigue, and sleep disorders. Our analysis utilised Kruskal-Wallis tests and multiple regression. Findings reveal that only 9.5 % of participants belonged to the high user group, yet high online usage was associated with more favourable working conditions, including lower emotional burden (p = 0.01), and reduced cognitive fatigue (b = 0.22, p < 0.001) and sleep disorders (b = 0.17, p = 0.004) compared to medium users. Engaging in remote work more than once a week was linked to lower cognitive fatigue compared to doing so up to once a week (b = 0.10, p = 0.03). No correlation was observed between musculoskeletal symptoms and the frequency of online counselling or remote work. These results indicate that online counselling could enhance working conditions, although initial increases in cognitive fatigue may occur as counsellors adapt. The findings underscore the need for continued efforts to improve digital working conditions in social care.