Families’ and Professional Caregivers’ Views of Using Advanced Technology to Track People With Dementia

Abstract

in this study we examined the ethical aspects of the use of the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to track people with dementia. The findings are based on qualitative data gathered from focus groups of family and professional caregivers. The most important theme was the need to balance patients' need for safety with the need to preserve their autonomy and privacy. The main potential benefit of the use of GPS was related to the peace of mind of the caregivers themselves. The findings also suggest that caregivers' views change according to the locus of responsibility of the caregivers for the safety of people with dementia. The caregivers give preference to patients' safety more than autonomy when they are responsible for the patients. When the patients are under the responsibility of other caregivers, they give preference to patients' autonomy more than their safety. Overall, the variety and the depth of the views of different stakeholders toward the use of electronic tracking for people with dementia presented in this article provide a meaningful contribution to the ethical debate on this topic.

eFRIEND: an ethical framework for intelligent environments development

“…They found that professional caregivers, and families of patients, gave preference to patients' safety and protection, more than their autonomy and privacy. While concerns about the safety and security of intelligent environments are raised by many authors (Aarts, 2004;Nixon et al, 2004;van Hoof et al, 2007;Rashidi and Mihailidis, 2013) others recognise the need for trade-offs between privacy and security/safety requirements (Landau et al, 2010;Sharkey and Sharkey, 2012).…”

Child Location Tracking in the US and the UK: Same Technology, Different Social Implications

“…And even when we focus on location tracking just for people there are many different applications. Location monitoring devices are known to be used for tracking different user groups, such as elderly people with dementia (Landau et al 2010;Miskelly 2005;Shoval et al 2008), sex offenders (Nellis 2009;Janicki 2006;Renzema and Mayo-Wilson 2005), and lone workers where the employers have a legal 'duty of care' to monitor and protect staff working alone (Thumala et al 2013;Barreras and Mathur 2007). In these cases the ethical issues will differ greatly compared to when one monitors children and teenagers going about their daily business.…”

eFRIEND

“…A number of authors have accordingly raised the spectre of a "big brother" society where it will be increasingly difficult to be left alone (Schülke et al, 2010;Wright et al, 2010) and the feeling of being under surveillance Langheinrich et al (2004). Similar concerns are raised about safety and security of intelligent environments (Aarts, 2004;Nixon et al, 2004;Van Hoof et al, 2007;Rashidi, 2012), and a trade-off between security/safety and privacy is recognised (Landau et al, 2010;Sharkey and Sharkey, 2012).…”