ReviewScience and engineering ethics2013
Ethical challenges with welfare technology: a review of the literature.
Review in Science and engineering ethics, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Ethical, legal, and social aspects of health technologies for home-based paediatric palliative care - a systematic review.BMC palliative care · 2025Pooled it
- A review of contemporary work on the ethics of ambient assisted living technologies for people with dementia.Science and engineering ethics · 2015Pooled it
- Ethical issues associated with assistive technologies for persons living with dementia and their caregivers - An overview of reviews.Dementia (London, England) · 2026Review
- Ethics at the Intersection of Intelligent Assistive Technology, Ageing, and the Home Environment: A Scoping Review.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2026Article
- "It is very convenient when it works - successes and challenges with welfare technology" - a qualitative study.PLOS digital health · 2025Article
- The anthropomorphization of AI and the concept of Buddhist compassion in human-machine interaction.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Home living older adults' subjective perceptions, evaluation, and interpretations of various welfare technology: A systematic review of qualitative studies.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2024Article
- Characteristics and Range of Reviews About Technologies for Aging in Place: Scoping Review of Reviews.JMIR aging · 2024Article
- Empowerment in structures. Practical-ethical considerations of the preconditions for technology-assisted dementia care in Germany based on an expert-interview study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Modes and models of care delivery in municipal long-term care services: a cross-sectional study from Norway.BMC health services research · 2023Review
- Welfare technology interventions among older people living at home-A systematic review of RCT studies.PLOS digital health · 2023Article
- AI-assisted ethics? considerations of AI simulation for the ethical assessment and design of assistive technologies.Frontiers in genetics · 2023Article
- Technology moral sense: Development, reliability, and validity of the TMS scale in Chinese version.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Examining how Ethics in Relation to Health Technology is Described in the Research Literature: Scoping Review.Interactive journal of medical research · 2022Article
- Family caregivers' involvement in caring for frail older family members using welfare technology: a qualitative study of home care in transition.BMC geriatrics · 2022Article
- Interacting with chatbots later in life: A technology acceptance perspective in COVID-19 pandemic situation.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Ethical, Legal and Social Issues of Digital Phenotyping as a Future Solution for Present-Day Challenges: A Scoping Review.Science and engineering ethics · 2021Article
- "A Question of Trust" and "a Leap of Faith"-Study Participants' Perspectives on Consent, Privacy, and Trust in Smart Home Research: Qualitative Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2021Article
- Robots in Healthcare? What Patients Say.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- The application and deployment of welfare technology in Swedish municipal care: a qualitative study of procurement practices among municipal actors.BMC health services research · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Demographical changes in high income counties will increase the need of health care services but reduce the number of people to provide them. Welfare technology is launched as an important measure to meet this challenge. As with all types of technologies we must explore its ethical challenges. A literature review reveals that welfare technology is a generic term for a heterogeneous group of technologies and there are few studies documenting their efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency. Many kinds of welfare technology break with the traditional organization of health care. It introduces technology in new areas, such as in private homes, and it provides new functions, e.g. offering social stimuli and entertainment. At the same time welfare technology is developed for groups that traditionally have not been extensive technology users. This raises a series of ethical questions with regard to the development and use of welfare technologies, which are presented in this review. The main challenges identified are: (1) Alienation when advanced technology is used at home, (2) conflicting goals, as welfare technologies have many stakeholders with several ends, (3) respecting confidentiality and privacy when third-party actors are involved, (4) guaranteeing equal access and just distribution, and (5) handling conflicts between instrumental rationality and care in terms of respecting dignity and vulnerability. Addressing these issues is important for developing and implementing welfare technologies in a morally acceptable manner.
Indexed as
Identifiers
22218998What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.