Ethical Perceptions Towards Real-world Use of Companion Robots With Older People and People With Dementia: Survey Opinions Among Younger Adults

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aut.relation.articlenumber244en_NZ
aut.relation.issue1en_NZ
aut.relation.journalBMC Geriatricsen_NZ
aut.relation.volume20en_NZ
aut.researcherDrabsch, Julie
dc.contributor.authorBradwell, HLen_NZ
dc.contributor.authorWinnington, Ren_NZ
dc.contributor.authorThill, Sen_NZ
dc.contributor.authorJones, RBen_NZ
dc.date.accessioned2020-07-29T03:59:00Z
dc.date.available2020-07-29T03:59:00Z
dc.date.copyright2020en_NZ
dc.date.issued2020en_NZ
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND: Use of companion robots may reduce older people's depression, loneliness and agitation. This benefit has to be contrasted against possible ethical concerns raised by philosophers in the field around issues such as deceit, infantilisation, reduced human contact and accountability. Research directly assessing prevalence of such concerns among relevant stakeholders, however, remains limited, even though their views clearly have relevance in the debate. For example, any discrepancies between ethicists and stakeholders might in itself be a relevant ethical consideration while concerns perceived by stakeholders might identify immediate barriers to successful implementation. METHODS: We surveyed 67 younger adults after they had live interactions with companion robot pets while attending an exhibition on intimacy, including the context of intimacy for older people. We asked about their perceptions of ethical issues. Participants generally had older family members, some with dementia. RESULTS: Most participants (40/67, 60%) reported having no ethical concerns towards companion robot use when surveyed with an open question. Twenty (30%) had some concern, the most common being reduced human contact (10%), followed by deception (6%). However, when choosing from a list, the issue perceived as most concerning was equality of access to devices based on socioeconomic factors (m = 4.72 on a scale 1-7), exceeding more commonly hypothesized issues such as infantilising (m = 3.45), and deception (m = 3.44). The lowest-scoring issues were potential for injury or harm (m = 2.38) and privacy concerns (m = 2.17). Over half (39/67 (58%)) would have bought a device for an older relative. Cost was a common reason for choosing not to purchase a device. CONCLUSIONS: Although a relatively small study, we demonstrated discrepancies between ethical concerns raised in the philosophical literature and those likely to make the decision to buy a companion robot. Such discrepancies, between philosophers and 'end-users' in care of older people, and in methods of ascertainment, are worthy of further empirical research and discussion. Our participants were more concerned about economic issues and equality of access, an important consideration for those involved with care of older people. On the other hand the concerns proposed by ethicists seem unlikely to be a barrier to use of companion robots.en_NZ
dc.identifier.citationBMC Geriatrics, 20, 244 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-020-01641-5
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/s12877-020-01641-5en_NZ
dc.identifier.issn1471-2318en_NZ
dc.identifier.issn1471-2318en_NZ
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/13561
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_NZ
dc.relation.urihttps://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12877-020-01641-5
dc.rights© The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccessen_NZ
dc.subjectRobot ethics; Machine ethics; Companion robots; Social robots; Older people; Aged care; Health and social care; Stakeholders; Gerontology
dc.titleEthical Perceptions Towards Real-world Use of Companion Robots With Older People and People With Dementia: Survey Opinions Among Younger Adultsen_NZ
dc.typeJournal Article
pubs.elements-id385712
pubs.organisational-data/AUT
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Health & Environmental Science
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Health & Environmental Science/Clinical Sciences
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Health & Environmental Science/Nursing
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