# Care, career and health in times of digitalization—insights into the experiences of caring scientists

## TL;DR

This study explores how digitalization affects the well-being of caregiving scientists, revealing negative impacts on their health due to increased work demands.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into the negative effects of digitalization on caregiving scientists' health and work-life balance.

## Key findings

- Digitalization increases performance expectations and permanent availability for caregiving scientists.
- These demands negatively affect the physical and mental health of the participants.
- Self-exploitation is exacerbated as physical boundaries are disregarded.

## Abstract

This article examines the experiences of caregiving scientists about the impact on well-being due to the increasing digitalization at work. The data is based on two qualitative research project using group discussions with scientists in positions of responsibility at German universities, which were evaluated using the documentary method and grounded theory. Contrary to the assumption that digitalization has a positive effect on health and well-being of those working in academia, the results show an increasing performance expectations in terms of permanent availability, which has a negative impact on the physical and mental health of those surveyed and exacerbates self-exploitation where physical boundaries are disregarded. The article contributes to the discourse on health and well-being in academia as well as on digitalization at the workplace with a special focus on care work.