Ethical Concerns of the General Public regarding the Use of Robots for Older Adults

Esther Ruf, Stephanie Lehmann, Sabina Misoch

2021

Abstract

Due to demographic change the proportion of older adults in the population is increasing, which means that the proportion of people with limitations making it difficult to live independently at home or in institutions is also increasing. As a nursing shortage is evident today and expected to increase in the coming years, several strategies are needed to address these challenges. One possibility is the use of robots to support older adults and their caregivers. Taking ethical considerations into account is an essential task. Agreement with ethical concerns identified in the literature was surveyed in a Swiss sample. The participants expressed their agreement with seven predetermined items but to varying degrees. Possible reduced human contact or problems with sensitive data received the most agreement. Nearly half of the respondents expressed no concerns about job loss or violation of privacy. Additional concerns that the older adults would be deceived, their self-determination compromised, or their dignity violated received less agreement. Further ethical considerations for future studies are discussed.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Ruf E., Lehmann S. and Misoch S. (2021). Ethical Concerns of the General Public regarding the Use of Robots for Older Adults. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE, ISBN 978-989-758-506-7, pages 221-227. DOI: 10.5220/0010478202210227

in Bibtex Style

@conference{ict4awe21,
author={Esther Ruf and Stephanie Lehmann and Sabina Misoch},
title={Ethical Concerns of the General Public regarding the Use of Robots for Older Adults},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE,},
year={2021},
pages={221-227},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010478202210227},
isbn={978-989-758-506-7},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE,
TI - Ethical Concerns of the General Public regarding the Use of Robots for Older Adults
SN - 978-989-758-506-7
AU - Ruf E.
AU - Lehmann S.
AU - Misoch S.
PY - 2021
SP - 221
EP - 227
DO - 10.5220/0010478202210227