Questions, dilemmas and dimensions

Tromso scenario

The discussion about the future of elderly care raises several concerns and ethical dilemmas. While reading the scenarios it is important to have some questions in mind regarding the elderly care. Examples of concerns and questions can be:

  1. How can the elderly care be better in these scenarios?
  2. How can technology help people to improve their living condition at home or in other residencies?
  3. How can technology help us improving elderly care (competences, skills etc)?
  4. Are there needs for diversification, i.e. special or personal needs when suffering from dementia?
  5. Is there a need for additional training of nurses and other health care personnel on the use of technology in the elderly care?
  6. What can be the major pitfalls of using various care technologies?

Examples of questions that reflect value issues and ethical dilemmas can be:

  1. How can care technologies be experienced as intrusive or unpleasant surveillance?
  2. How is privacy balanced with feeling secure in the care services?
  3. How far are we willing to use technology if it will deprive the autonomy of the senior citizens?
  4. How can the use of technologies result in the senior citizens being less or more isolated from their communities?

Some of these concerns are reflected in the scenarios. They are of course not an exhaustive list of concerns. The aim of the stakeholder workshop is to identify and specify these concerns/dilemmas and to use them as a starting point for the creation of the visions and policy recommendations.