Ethical Aspects of the Use of Social Robots in Elderly Care: A Systematic Qualitative Review
Ethical Aspects of the Use of Social Robots in Elderly Care A Systematic Qualitative Review
This systematic qualitative review investigates the ethical aspects of using social robots in elderly care by analyzing 248 academic publications. The authors organize their findings into a framework of ethical hazards, ethical opportunities, and unsettled questions across three stakeholder groups: care recipients, care providers and facilities, and society and the healthcare system. The review highlights that while social robots offer potential benefits such as improved well-being, reduced caregiver workload, and companionship, they also introduce significant challenges including privacy risks, infantilization, deception, and a potential reduction in human touch.
Summary and content fields are drawn from the document text and are pending editorial review.
Who issued it
Who it governs
Decision-makers, researchers, and developers navigating the ethical implementation of social robotics in elder care.
What the document contains
The document addresses the ethical opportunities, hazards, and unsettled questions arising from the deployment of social and socially assistive robots in elderly care settings. It systematically synthesizes literature covering impacts on care recipients, care providers, and broader societal and healthcare systems.
It does not provide concrete binding standards, regulatory enforcement mechanisms, or direct legal prescriptions for deploying care robots.
- The review identified 60 broad ethical aspects concerning social robots in elderly care, categorized into hazards, opportunities, and unsettled questions.
- Ethical opportunities include improving well-being, mitigating care worker shortages, and providing companionship during social isolation.
- Ethical hazards involve privacy infringements, potential deception, infantilization, increased dependency, and the risk of reducing the human touch in care.
- Many ethical aspects are highly context-dependent, requiring careful evaluation of specific implementation scenarios, device types, and user preferences.
- The existing discourse frequently suffers from empirical weaknesses, speculative scenarios, and imprecise terminology regarding care and aging.
· Background · Methods · Results · Discussion · Limitations · Conclusion
How it scores
Each score is backed by a quote verified against the document text. Editorial review has not yet confirmed them.
Human Dignity
2/5Respect for the inherent worth of persons
As such they gain access to particularly sensitive areas of human life. For that reason, the use of social robotics in elderly care is considered particularly ethically sensitive
Background
screening score · 2026-10-23
Privacy
2/5Protection of personal data and private life
Health data collection and the (digital) transfer of such data by social robots frequently raise privacy concerns
Results
screening score · 2026-10-23
Enforcement
0/5Consequences and compliance mechanisms with real force
N/A
screening score · 2026-10-23