Under Watch and Ward at Night: Design and Evaluation of a Remote Monitoring System for Dementia Care. In: Holzinger A, editor. HCI and Usability for Education and Work. Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 2008. pp. 475-86. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-89350-9_33]

Preventing Alzheimer’s Wandering

With increased life expectancy, the incidence of age-related cognitive impairments, faced by the elderly and older generations, is growing. Among the population with cognitive impairments, those that suffer from Alzheimer’s disease are the most common. The Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic degenerative brain disorder that is characterised by a failure of memory and, in some instances, by disorders in language, perception and planning. As a consequence of the progressive damages imposed by the illness, patients will increasingly seek and need assistance. This paper presents a tool to aid the development and managing of caregiving communities, comprising immediate family members, relatives, neighbours and healthcare professionals, to assist patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Such communities could have a strong impact on the quality of care provided to the patients. At the same time, it is hoped that involving communities will significantly improve the quality of life of Alzheimer's patients and their families while reducing the costs related to the care provided.

Ethical and practical concerns of surveillance technologies in residential care for people with dementia or intellectual disabilities: an overview of the literature

BACKGROUND

Technology has emerged as a potential solution to alleviate some of the pressures on an already overburdened care system, thereby meeting the growing needs of an expanding population of seriously cognitively impaired people. However, questions arise as to what extent technologies are already being used in residential care and how ethically and practically acceptable this use would be.

METHODS

A systematic literature review was conducted to explore what is known on the moral and practical acceptability of surveillance technologies in residential care for people with dementia or intellectual disabilities, and to set forth the state of the debate.

RESULTS

A total of 79 papers met the inclusion criteria. The findings show that application and use of surveillance technologies in residential care for vulnerable people generates considerable ethical debate. This ethical debate centers not so much around the effects of technology, but rather around the moral acceptability of those effects, especially when a conflict arises between the interests of the institution and the interests of the resident. However, the majority of articles lack in depth analysis. Furthermore, there are notable cultural differences between the European literature and American literature whereby in Britain there seems to be more ethical debate than in America. Overall however, there is little attention for the resident perspective.

CONCLUSION

No ethical consensus has yet been reached, underlining the need for clear(er) policies. More research is thus recommended to determine ethical and practical viability of surveillance technologies whereby research should be specifically focused on the resident perspective.