Beyond Safety: Towards Non-Stigmatizing Mobile Emergency Watches that Empower Older Adults

Marcia Nißen, Marcia Nißen, Marcia Nißen, Simon Prinz

2025

Abstract

The ageing population presents significant challenges for healthcare systems, creating a need for innovative digital health technologies (DHTs) to enhance autonomy, safety, and care outcomes for older adults. Mobile emergency watches offer a modern, non-stigmatizing alternative to traditional emergency buttons, combining mobility and functionality. This paper explores their potential to bring relief to older adults as well as overloaded healthcare systems by appealing to a broader audience and enabling more independent lifestyles than traditional emergency devices and addresses three core challenges: (1) balancing simplicity and reliability with advanced functionalities; (2) achieving equitable, personalised designs that balance non-stigmatizing aesthetics and functionality; and (3) navigating fragmented and evolving regulatory frameworks for DHTs. These challenges are analysed through the lens of a single case study, based on an expert interview and publicly available information on a mobile emergency watch startup. The paper discusses pathways to overcome these barriers, bridging gaps between innovation, user needs, and regulatory requirements.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Nißen M. and Prinz S. (2025). Beyond Safety: Towards Non-Stigmatizing Mobile Emergency Watches that Empower Older Adults. In Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: Scale-IT-up; ISBN 978-989-758-731-3, SciTePress, pages 1092-1098. DOI: 10.5220/0013399800003911

in Bibtex Style

@conference{scale-it-up25,
author={Marcia Nißen and Simon Prinz},
title={Beyond Safety: Towards Non-Stigmatizing Mobile Emergency Watches that Empower Older Adults},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: Scale-IT-up},
year={2025},
pages={1092-1098},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013399800003911},
isbn={978-989-758-731-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: Scale-IT-up
TI - Beyond Safety: Towards Non-Stigmatizing Mobile Emergency Watches that Empower Older Adults
SN - 978-989-758-731-3
AU - Nißen M.
AU - Prinz S.
PY - 2025
SP - 1092
EP - 1098
DO - 10.5220/0013399800003911
PB - SciTePress