Careful Vigilance: Using GPS tracking in dementia care

TY - ABST

T1 - Careful Vigilance: Using GPS tracking in dementia care

AU - Meyer, Astrid

AU - Ballegaard, Stinne Aaløkke

AU - Albrechtslund, Anders

N1 - Conference code: 7

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Many countries are currently facing a rise in the number of people with dementia. As people with dementia often have difficulties orienting themselves, the use of wearable GPS trackers is increasingly common in dementia care. By wearing a GPS tracker, people with dementia are, supposedly, easy to find (based on the GPS location) if they get lost, thus making it easier to assist them before they come to any harm. In this contribution, we explore the consequences for dementia care of relying on a wearable technology infused with promises of increased safety. Our paper is based on the research project Signs of Life – a collaboration between researchers and care practitioners. We developed a new framework for working with GPS tracking and other surveillance technologies incorporating ongoing attention to practical matters as well as ethical reflection. Based on ethnographic fieldwork from this project, we explore how GPS trackers at nursing homes depend on continuous maintenance and repair work to function according to plan. Given that GPS tracking is a technology meant to increase safety in dementia care, it is peculiar that the same technology risks creating false safety if a tracker has run out of battery or is left behind. We find that the use of GPS tracking creates a new central task in dementia care: preventing false safety through increased alertness and vigilance. As a result, working with GPS tracking in dementia care re-inforces safety and security as key values, making for new entanglements and care priorities.

AB - Many countries are currently facing a rise in the number of people with dementia. As people with dementia often have difficulties orienting themselves, the use of wearable GPS trackers is increasingly common in dementia care. By wearing a GPS tracker, people with dementia are, supposedly, easy to find (based on the GPS location) if they get lost, thus making it easier to assist them before they come to any harm. In this contribution, we explore the consequences for dementia care of relying on a wearable technology infused with promises of increased safety. Our paper is based on the research project Signs of Life – a collaboration between researchers and care practitioners. We developed a new framework for working with GPS tracking and other surveillance technologies incorporating ongoing attention to practical matters as well as ethical reflection. Based on ethnographic fieldwork from this project, we explore how GPS trackers at nursing homes depend on continuous maintenance and repair work to function according to plan. Given that GPS tracking is a technology meant to increase safety in dementia care, it is peculiar that the same technology risks creating false safety if a tracker has run out of battery or is left behind. We find that the use of GPS tracking creates a new central task in dementia care: preventing false safety through increased alertness and vigilance. As a result, working with GPS tracking in dementia care re-inforces safety and security as key values, making for new entanglements and care priorities.

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

T2 - 7th Nordic STS Conference

Y2 - 11 June 2025 through 13 June 2025

ER -