Wearable Technologies and Stress: Toward an Ethically Grounded Approach

Stefano Canali, Beatrice De Marchi () and Andrea Aliverti
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Stefano Canali: Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy
Beatrice De Marchi: Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy
Andrea Aliverti: Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 18, 1-14

Abstract: The widespread use of digital technologies that can be worn on our bodies—wearables—is presented as a turning point for various areas of biomedical research and healthcare, such as stress. The ability to constantly measure these parameters, the perceived quality of measurement, and their individual and personal level frame wearable technology as a possibly crucial step in the direction of a more accurate and objective definition and measurement of stress for clinical, research, and personal purposes. In this paper, we discuss the hypothesis that the use of wearables for stress is also beneficial from an ethical viewpoint. We start by situating wearables in the context of existing methods and limitations of stress research. On this basis, we discuss the ethics of wearables for stress by applying ethical principles from bioethics (beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, justice), which allows us to identify ethical benefits as well as challenges in this context. As a result, we develop a more balanced view of the ethics of wearables for stress, which we use to present recommendations and indications with a focus on certification, accessibility, and inclusion. This article is, thus, a contribution towards ethically grounded wearable and digital health technology for stress.

Keywords: digital health; wearables; stress; ethics; philosophy of technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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