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BY-NC-ND 4.0 license Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2020

8 Challenges arising from the use of assistive technologies by people with dementia in home care arrangements

From the book Aging between Participation and Simulation

  • Sarah Palmdorf and Christoph Dockweiler

Abstract

People with dementia living at home are potential users of assistive technologies, as are their informal or professional carers. However, the development of these technologies is oriented more towards what is technically possible as towards the needs of the subsequent users. This is due to the fact that including this group of patients in the development is subject to particular challenges because of their vulnerability and the symptom changes. In addition, weighing the use and the actual application of technology raises both ethical and legal challenges. This implies the formulation and articulation of an informed consent, the emergence of ethical problems depending on the actual system and its application, equal resources and equal opportunities. These ethical problems will be discussed in the following and lead to considerations of the challenges arising from the participation of users and the demands made on technologies and users. So far, the ethical and legal challenges of using the technologies have not been discussed adequately with the user group. There are also no established concepts supporting people with dementia and their relatives when making a decision about using a system, helping them reflect on the possible consequences or finding an alternative that would facilitate self-determined care. Another issue, which has yet to be dealt with, is how decisions made at the onset of the disease should be implemented in the homecare setting during the further course of the illness.

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston
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