2023
Nickel, Philip; Loosman, Iris; Frank, Lily; Vinnikova, Anna
Justice and Empowerment Through Digital Health: Ethical Challenges and Opportunities Journal Article
In: Digital Society, vol. 2, 2023.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Access to care, Conceptual engineering, Digital health, Equity, Ethics of Technology, Health literacy, Health empowerment, Justice, Responsibilization
@article{Nickel2023b,
title = {Justice and Empowerment Through Digital Health: Ethical Challenges and Opportunities},
author = {Philip Nickel and Iris Loosman and Lily Frank and Anna Vinnikova },
url = {https://www.esdit.nl/s44206-023-00075-x/},
doi = {10.1007/s44206-023-00075-x },
year = {2023},
date = {2023-10-10},
urldate = {2023-10-10},
journal = {Digital Society},
volume = {2},
abstract = {The proposition that digital innovations can put people in charge of their health has been accompanied by prolific talk of empowerment. In this paper we consider ethical challenges and opportunities of trying to achieve justice and empowerment using digital health initiatives. The language of empowerment can misleadingly suggest that by using technology, people can control their health and take responsibility for health outcomes to a greater degree than is realistic or fair. Also, digital health empowerment often primarily reaches people who already have high technological and health literacy, leaving others behind. We critically investigate whether the concept of health empowerment could be re-engineered to mean something different, namely the process of improving the health literacy and access of those who least possess it, in line with recent proposals for conceptual engineering in the service of justice. We settle on the weaker conclusion that underlying ethical values including justice should be used to interpret the existing concept of empowerment. To conclude, we take a high-level view of various strategies for achieving the ethical value associated with digital health empowerment.},
keywords = {Access to care, Conceptual engineering, Digital health, Equity, Ethics of Technology, Health literacy, Health empowerment, Justice, Responsibilization},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The proposition that digital innovations can put people in charge of their health has been accompanied by prolific talk of empowerment. In this paper we consider ethical challenges and opportunities of trying to achieve justice and empowerment using digital health initiatives. The language of empowerment can misleadingly suggest that by using technology, people can control their health and take responsibility for health outcomes to a greater degree than is realistic or fair. Also, digital health empowerment often primarily reaches people who already have high technological and health literacy, leaving others behind. We critically investigate whether the concept of health empowerment could be re-engineered to mean something different, namely the process of improving the health literacy and access of those who least possess it, in line with recent proposals for conceptual engineering in the service of justice. We settle on the weaker conclusion that underlying ethical values including justice should be used to interpret the existing concept of empowerment. To conclude, we take a high-level view of various strategies for achieving the ethical value associated with digital health empowerment.