Ethical dimensions of digital technology-assisted physiotherapy: fundamentals for ethics education of physiotherapists

Today, digital technologies are increasingly being used in physiotherapy and rehabilitation. These include robots, health apps, wearables, and virtual reality. This development brings new responsibilities for physiotherapists: they must carefully consider the ethical aspects when using these technologies. To ensure that physiotherapists can handle these technologies ethically, their training must keep pace with these advancements.

The project has four goals:

  1. Identify ethical questions: Create an overview of the ethical issues and conflicts described in the literature regarding the use of digital technologies in physiotherapy.
  2. Gather experiences: Collect and analyze the experiences of physiotherapists and patients with ethical challenges in digital physiotherapy.
  3. Develop case studies: Create ethically relevant case studies based on these findings.
  4. Create training materials: Translate these case studies into practical materials to help physiotherapists reflect on and address ethical questions.

This project provides theoretical and practical insights into the ethical issues of digital physiotherapy. These ethical questions are addressed through case studies, which are integrated with game-based learning tools (e.g., moral games). At the end of the project, a toolkit will be available for use in ethical education. This aims to help physiotherapists use new technologies responsibly and competently.

Project Lead

ZHAW: Irina Nast, Mandy Scheermesser

Team

ZHAW: Andrea Glaessel, Anja Hinteregger, Leah Reicherzer 
ZHdK: Sophie Walker
IBME: Tobias Eichinger
HES-SO: Jean-Gabriel Piguet, Mathilde Robert
SUPSI: Marco Barbero

Cooperation Partner

Anna Lisa Martin-Niedecken (ZHdK), Nikola Biller-Andorno (IBME), Michael Ignaz Schumacher (HES-SO)

Duration

01.06.2024 – 31.05.2027

Funding

SNSF

More Information

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