Pros and cons
Weighing it up
For when you are unsure about a choice. List the pros and cons and choose how much each one weighs for you. A pair of scales shows what you wrote down.
Self-direction and digital tools
Draft — not checked yet
This translation has not been checked yet. It may still contain mistakes.
In short
Self-direction means that you set the direction of your own life, even if you need help. It is about deciding for yourself, not about doing everything yourself. Whether a digital tool helps with this depends on who chooses, who else can see what is in it and who can stop.
What it is
Self-direction (in Dutch: zelfregie) means that you set the direction of your own life, even if you need help to do so. In Dutch, another word for it is eigen regie. The image that goes with it: I am behind the wheel, even if I cannot do everything myself.
You experience self-direction when four things are in place. You can:
- have a say in what you do and what happens to you;
- use your own strengths;
- live by your own values;
- count on support from the people around you.
People who need help often have few people around them and do not find it easy to ask for help. Asking becomes easier if you can also do something in return.
Self-direction is different from self-reliance (in Dutch: zelfredzaamheid): the first is about deciding for yourself, the second about doing things yourself. Side by side, the words look like this:
| Term | What it is about | Question |
|---|---|---|
| Self-direction (eigen regie) | deciding for yourself | What do I want? |
| Own strength (eigen kracht) | being able to do it yourself | What can I do? |
| Self-reliance (zelfredzaamheid) | being able to take part independently | Is help or a service needed? |
| Personal responsibility (eigen verantwoordelijkheid) | having to or being allowed to do it yourself | What must I or may I do myself? |
Why it matters
If there is too much emphasis on doing things yourself, the motivation to be at the wheel yourself can disappear. Sometimes the way help is organised also gets in the way: you are not allowed to choose your support worker, you cannot see your file, or you get no choice in the approach. The same happens when a care professional discusses a client with someone else, for example the GP, without the client being there.
A digital tool helps if your client can see for themselves what has been recorded about them. That is also a right: everyone can ask an organisation what data it holds about them, and that includes opinions and assessments. With DigiD Machtigen (the part of DigiD, the Dutch government login, where you let someone act on your behalf), your client also chooses which task a social worker may handle and for how long, and such an authorisation can be withdrawn again.
A tool works against this if it makes choices instead of your client, or watches without your client wanting it to. A sensor in the toilet is an example: if someone thinks it is a camera, they may start avoiding the toilet.
How to do it
Ask four questions before you use a tool:
- Who chooses? Your client decides whether they use it.
- Who sees what? Your client knows who sees the data, and can see it too. Agree together what you do and do not share with colleagues.
- Whose goal is it? The tool works towards what your client wants to achieve, not what you or your organisation want to measure.
- Can your client stop? There is a way without a screen, and stopping has no downsides. Say this out loud too, for example: “If you want to stop, just tell me, and we will find something else. Our appointments will carry on as normal.”
Example: an app the support worker can also see
Your organisation has an app in which clients tick off tasks and the support worker can see what they do. A client who has lost track of things after a divorce is happy for you to see his appointments, but not how he feels. You turn that part off together. You also tell him that it can be done without the app.
His goal is: “I want to be able to keep up with my post myself again.” For the first few weeks you sort his post, and you tell him that this is temporary. After that he does a bit more himself each time.
Points to watch
- Sometimes you take over control for a while, as in the example above. That can help, as long as the aim is for your client to get more of a grip again.
- Self-direction is sometimes used as a way to save on care. Then it feels like self-direction that is imposed. Ask yourself: is this about more choice for your client, or about less help?
- Are you thinking of sensors or cameras for remote monitoring of people with dementia or an intellectual disability? Then the Wet zorg en dwang (Wzd, the Dutch Care and Coercion Act) may apply, which protects them against involuntary care. If your client resists, even without words, you must follow a fixed step-by-step plan. Ask within your organisation how this works.
- Do you have questions about data and privacy? Ask your organisation’s data protection officer (in Dutch: functionaris gegevensbescherming, FG).
Find out more
Tools that go with this
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Place the people around you in three circles: close, a bit further and further away. There are questions to talk about, and you can print everything.
Conversation cards
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Pick a photo that fits what you want to say, and a question to talk about appears. For the start of a conversation, or when it falls silent.
Sources
- Werkzame elementen bij... het ondersteunen van zelfregie (external website)
- Zelfregie of zelfredzaam. Zie jij het verschil? (external website)
- Eigen regie: wat weten we en waar staan we? (external website)
- Recht op inzage (external website)
- Machtigen (external website)
- Digitale zorg en Wet zorg en dwang (Wzd) (external website)
- Guide
- Draft
Choosing a digital tool for your client
Ten steps to choose a digital tool that fits your client's question and what they can do. You start with the goal, then look at privacy, accessibility, costs and evidence, and you decide together with your client.
- With your client
- Guide
- Draft
Designing a digital tool together with clients
A guide to making a digital tool together with clients, care workers and the organisation. In ten steps: writing down the question, inviting people, making something simple to talk about, testing and then building.
- With your client
- Guide
- Draft
Introducing a digital tool in your team
Ten steps to introduce a digital tool in your team. You start with the problem you want to solve, try it out on a small scale first and involve clients and colleagues. Then you look together at what it achieves, and decide whether to carry on.
- With your client
Build something together?
Send us a message if you have an idea, are missing something or would like to try a tool with your team. Tell us in a few sentences what it is about. We read everything, and it commits you to nothing.