BACKGROUND Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and wearable computing are creating novel technological opportunities for mitigating the global burden of population ageing and improving the quality of care for older adults with dementia and/or age-related disability. Intelligent assistive technology (IAT) is the umbrella term defining this ever-evolving spectrum of intelligent applications for the older and disabled population. However, the implementation of IATs has been observed to be sub-optimal due to a number of barriers in the translation of novel applications from the designing labs to the bedside. Furthermore, since these technologies are designed to be used by vulnerable individuals with age- and multi-morbidity-related frailty and cognitive disability, they are perceived to raise important ethical challenges, especially when they involve machine intelligence, collect sensitive data or operate in close proximity to the human body. Thus, the goal of this paper is to explore and assess the ethical issues that professional stakeholders perceive in the development and use of IATs in elderly and dementia care. METHODS We conducted a multi-site study involving semi-structured qualitative interviews with researchers and health professionals. We analyzed the interview data using a descriptive thematic analysis to inductively explore relevant ethical challenges. RESULTS Our findings indicate that professional stakeholders find issues of patient autonomy and informed consent, quality of data management, distributive justice and human contact as ethical priorities. Divergences emerged in relation to how these ethical issues are interpreted, how conflicts between different ethical principles are resolved and what solutions should be implemented to overcome current challenges. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate a general agreement among professional stakeholders on the ethical promises and challenges raised by the use of IATs among older and disabled users. Yet, notable divergences persist regarding how these ethical challenges can be overcome and what strategies should be implemented for the safe and effective implementation of IATs. These findings provide technology developers with useful information about unmet ethical needs. Study results may guide policy makers with firsthand information from relevant stakeholders about possible solutions for ethically-aligned technology governance.

中文翻译：

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使用智能辅助技术的伦理问题：与专业利益相关者进行定性研究得出的结论。

背景技术人工智能（AI），机器人技术和可穿戴计算技术的进步为减轻人口老龄化的全球负担并改善患有痴呆和/或与年龄相关的残疾的老年人的护理质量创造了新的技术机遇。智能辅助技术（IAT）是总称，它定义了老年人和残疾人士不断发展的智能应用范围。但是，由于在将新的应用程序从设计实验室转换到床边的过程中遇到了许多障碍，因此IAT的实现被认为是次优的。此外，由于这些技术是专为年龄与多种疾病相关的虚弱和认知障碍的弱势人群使用而设计的，因此，它们被认为会带来重要的道德挑战，特别是当它们涉及机器智能，收集敏感数据或在人体附近操作时。因此，本文的目的是探索和评估专业利益相关者在老年人和痴呆症护理中发展和使用IAT的道德问题。方法我们进行了一项多站点研究，涉及对研究人员和卫生专业人员的半结构化定性访谈。我们使用描述性主题分析来分析采访数据，以归纳地探索相关的道德挑战。结果我们的发现表明，专业利益相关者发现患者自主权和知情同意，数据管理质量，分配正义和人际交往等问题是道德上的优先事项。关于如何解释这些道德问题出现了分歧，如何解决不同道德原则之间的冲突，以及应采取何种解决方案来克服当前的挑战。结论我们的研究结果表明，专业利益相关者对老年人和残障用户使用IAT所带来的道德承诺和挑战达成了普遍共识。但是，在如何克服这些道德挑战以及应实施哪些策略以安全有效地实施IAT方面，仍存在明显分歧。这些发现为技术开发人员提供了有关未满足的道德需求的有用信息。研究结果可能会指导政策制定者从有关利益相关者那里获得有关符合道德规范的技术治理的可能解决方案的第一手信息。