No Place Like Home? Surveillance and What Home Means in Old Age.

New surveillance technologies like those included in ambient assisted living - such as body-worn and passive environmental sensors, smart interfaces, and communications networks - are being developed to improve the security and safety of "at risk" older people, but ethical questions have been raised about the extent to which they compromise the rights and privacy of the people being monitored. The qualitative study we conducted was designed to help us understand the ways these novel surveillance technologies would influence individuals' everyday experiences of home. Participants felt new forms of surveillance would influence their sense of security, autonomy, and self-confidence, and would alter perceptions of home. The findings emphasize the need to improve our understanding of how ambient assisted living will affect the lives of those being monitored.

Ethical Considerations Regarding the Use of Smart Home Technologies for Older Adults: An Integrative Review.

PROBLEM: With the wide adoption and use of smart home applications, there is a need for examining ethical issues regarding smart home use at the intersection of aging, technology, and home environment. PURPOSE: The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of ethical considerations and the evidence on these ethical issues based on an integrative literature review with regard to the utilization of smart home technologies by older adults and their family members. REVIEW DESIGN AND METHODS: We conducted an integrative literature review of the scientific literature from indexed databases (e. g., MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PsycINFO). The framework guiding this review is derived from previous work on ethical considerations related to telehealth use for older adults and smart homes for palliative care. Key ethical issues of the framework include privacy, informed consent, autonomy, obtrusiveness, equal access, reduction in human touch, and usability. RESULTS: Six hundred and thirty-five candidate articles were identified between the years 1990 and 2014. Sixteen articles were included in the review. Privacy and obtrusiveness issues appear to be the most important factors that can affect smart home technology adoption. In addition, this article recommends that stigmatization and reliability and maintenance of the system are additional factors to consider. IMPLICATIONS: When smart home technology is used appropriately, it has the potential to improve quality of life and maintain safety among older adults, ultimately supporting the desire of older adults for aging in place. The ability to respond to potential ethical concerns will be critical to the future development and application of smart home technologies that aim to enhance safety and independence.

Conducción bajo los efectos de sustancias psicoactivas: correlación de las concentraciones en fluido oral y sangre / Driving under the influence of psychoactive substances: correlation between saliva and blood concentrations

La comunidad científica internacional acepta que el consumo de drogas de abuso o de sustancias psicoactivas por conductores de vehículos a motor supone un incremento del riesgo de sufrir un accidente. Por ello, en los últimos años los distintos países de la Unión Europea han ido modificando su legislación sobre seguridad vial con el objetivo de adaptarla a los nuevos conocimientos existentes. Por regla general, dichas regulaciones establecen que la determinación del consumo de drogas se realizará «in situ» en fluido oral, siendo necesaria la confirmación de dichos resultados. Tras la revisión exhaustiva de la información existente sobre dispositivos de detección, métodos de confirmación y posible correlación entre concentraciones obtenidas en saliva y las existentes en sangre, podemos concluir que los conocimientos actuales no permiten establecer una relación directa entre una determinada concentración en fluido oral y la posibilidad de sufrir un accidente de tráfico, a pesar de que se sabe que el consumo de drogas de abuso afecta a la conducción(AU)

The international scientific community agrees that the use of drugs or psychoactive substances by drivers has an increased risk of suffering a road accident. Therefore, in recent years, various European Union countries have modified their legislation on road safety in order to adapt them to current knowledge. These regulations generally include the provision for determining drug use "in situ" in saliva, with the results being confirmed where necessary. After a comprehensive review of existing information on detection devices, confirmation methods, and possible correlation between saliva and blood concentrations, we can conclude that a relationship between a given salivary fluid concentration and the possibility of having an accident cannot yet be established, even although it is known that drugs consumption impairs driving(AU)

Spying or steering? Views of parents of young novice drivers on the use and ethics of driver-monitoring technologies.

In-vehicle technologies that document driving practices have the potential to enhance the driving safety of young drivers, but their installation depends largely on their parents' willingness and raises ethical dilemmas. This study investigated, using closed and open-ended questions, the views of 906 parents of young drivers in Israel regarding their willingness to install such a technology, and their conceptions of social norms and ethical issues associated with the technology and of factors that would encourage or discourage parents to adopt it. Most believed parents should feel morally obligated to install it. When cost was not a consideration, most said they would, and believed other parents would be willing to install the technology. Fewer (about half) expressed willingness to install it after being told about its estimated cost. Monetary cost was rated as a barrier to install it by about half. Environmental considerations were viewed as an incentive. Parents who supported the installation believed it would serve as a trigger for parent-young driver communication but those who did not thought it would erode trust in the parent-young driver relationship. Most said parents should have access to the monitoring data. Policy implications regarding issues of privacy and resources for parents are discussed.