DEVELOPING ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR PERSONS WITH DEMENTIA AND THEIR CARERS: THE ETHICS OF DOING GOOD, NOT HARM. (11th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mahoney, D
• Is Part Of: Innovation in aging. Volume 2(2018)Supplement 1
• Page Start: 51
• Page End: 52
• Publication Date: 2018-11-11
• Subjects: Aging -- Periodicals; Gerontology -- Periodicals; 612.67
• DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igy023.192
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2399-5300

Abstract

Abstract: Studies indicate that among stakeholders involved in the delivery of geriatric services there remains an emotional tension between "high tech" and "high touch" interventions for older adults with dementia. At the extremes, technophobic humanists dismiss technology interventions as universally inferior to human assistance, while techno-proponents view them as the solution to care problems resulting from human limitations. This presentation will review findings from a series of 5 "real world" technology development research studies conducted using mixed methods with 125 older adults with dementia and their carers. In each project ethical concerns were raised by grant reviewers and clinicians. Subsequently the concerns over potential harms were studied to ascertain occurrence. A previously interdisciplinary developed ethical model for gerontechnology monitoring provided the framework that guided this analysis. Key ethical principles from this research that will be discussed are: respect for persons, autonomy / consent, beneficence, non-malfeasance, justice / distributional fairness, privacy/confidentiality, and non-abandonment. The conclusions suggest that technology is neither inherently harmful nor beneficial. Humans maintain the responsibility for developing interventions that respect the personhood and dignity of those experiencing cognitive declines. Paternalistically blocking opportunities for older adults and their carers to influence or experience technologies is a new form of ageism; technoageaphobia, a harmful generalization that elders do not want and need to be protected from technologies. Society and older adults will be better served if stakeholders thoughtfully consider the ethical foundation for their beliefs, informed by research findings, to better foster client/elder/ family supportive technologies that do good, not harm.