Evaluating the effectiveness of a digital education programme for Swedish municipal politicians responsible for elder care

Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a digital education programme developed for municipality politicians accountable for the Swedish elder care. The programme focused on the work environment for different key professions within elder care and on the municipality politicians' work environment responsibility on an organisational level. Design/methodology/approach A longitudinal single-group pre-experimental research design was used to evaluate a digital education programme regarding the organisational and social work environment within elder care. The participants were municipality politicians accountable for the Swedish elder care. The evaluation was based on self-reported responses to a questionnaire – at T1, before the intervention (N = 81); at T2, zero to two weeks after the intervention (n = 35); and at T3, three months post education (n = 35). Longitudinal changes within the intervention group were examined. Findings The digital education programme substantially enhanced municipality politicians' self-rated knowledge of professions in both special housing and home care settings. This improvement was observed immediately after the programme at T2 and was either maintained or further increased at the three-month follow-up at T3. The absence of clear differences between T2 and T3 indicates that the knowledge gains were sustained over this period. Practical implications The results suggest that a digital education programme targeting the organisational level of the municipality-driven elder care, that is, accountable politicians, can help improve the understanding of work environment management regarding elder care, and thereby be a way to address challenges in elder care employee situations. Originality/value The focus is on addressing the organisational level instead of first-line managers and/or individuals.