IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v191y2017icp84-88.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ethical implications of location and accelerometer measurement in health research studies with mobile sensing devices

Author

Listed:
  • Fuller, Daniel
  • Shareck, Martine
  • Stanley, Kevin

Abstract

Quantification of individual behaviours using mobile sensing devices, including physical activity and spatial location, is a rapidly growing field in both academic research and the corporate world. In this case study, we summarize the literature examining the ethical aspects of mobile sensing and argue that a robust discussion about the ethical implications of mobile sensing for research purposes has not occurred sufficiently in the literature. Based on our literature summary and guided by basic ethical principles set out in Canadian, US, and International Ethics documents we propose four areas where further discussion should occur: consent, privacy and confidentiality, mitigating risk, and consideration of vulnerable populations. We argue that ongoing consent is crucial for participants to be aware of the precision and volume of data that is collected with mobile sensing devices. Related to privacy we discuss that participants may not agree that anonymized data is sufficient for privacy and confidentiality when mobile sensing data are collected. There has been some discussion about mitigating risk in the literature. We highlight that the researchers’ obligations toward mitigating risks that are not directly related to the study purpose are unclear and require considerable discussion. Finally, using mobile sensing devices to study vulnerable populations requires careful consideration, particularly with respect to balancing research needs with participant burden. Based on our discussion, we identify a broad set of unanswered questions about the ethics of mobile sensing that should be addressed by the research community.

Suggested Citation

  • Fuller, Daniel & Shareck, Martine & Stanley, Kevin, 2017. "Ethical implications of location and accelerometer measurement in health research studies with mobile sensing devices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 84-88.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:191:y:2017:i:c:p:84-88
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.08.043
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617305245
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.08.043?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bader, M.D.M. & Mooney, S.J. & Rundle, A.G., 2016. "Protecting personally identifiable information when using online geographic tools for public health research," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(2), pages 206-208.
    2. Frohlich, K.L. & Potvin, L., 2008. "Transcending the known in public health practice: The inequality paradox: The population approach and vulnerable populations," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(2), pages 216-221.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Breslin, Samantha & Shareck, Martine & Fuller, Daniel, 2019. "Research ethics for mobile sensing device use by vulnerable populations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 50-57.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ben Cave & Ryngan Pyper & Birgitte Fischer-Bonde & Sarah Humboldt-Dachroeden & Piedad Martin-Olmedo, 2021. "Lessons from an International Initiative to Set and Share Good Practice on Human Health in Environmental Impact Assessment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Vander Ploeg, Kerry A. & Maximova, Katerina & McGavock, Jonathan & Davis, Wendy & Veugelers, Paul, 2014. "Do school-based physical activity interventions increase or reduce inequalities in health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 80-87.
    3. Wolfgang A. Markham & Alan Dolan & Graham F. Moore, 2021. "A Sociological Framework to Reduce Aberrant Behaviour of School Students Through Increasing School Connectedness," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    4. Gesa Lehne & Claudia Voelcker-Rehage & Jochen Meyer & Karin Bammann & Dirk Gansefort & Tanja Brüchert & Gabriele Bolte, 2019. "Equity Impact Assessment of Interventions to Promote Physical Activity among Older Adults: A Logic Model Framework," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-17, February.
    5. Nicole Darmon & Adam Drewnowski, 2015. "Contribution of food prices and diet cost to socioeconomic disparities in diet quality and health: a systematic review and analysis," Post-Print hal-01774670, HAL.
    6. Gagnon-Dufresne, Marie-Catherine & Gautier, Lara & Beaujoin, Camille & Boivin, Pauline & Coulibaly, Abdourahmane & Richard, Zoé & Gomes de Medeiros, Stéphanie & Dutra Da Nóbrega, Raylson Emanuel & de , 2023. "Did the design and planning of testing and contact tracing interventions for COVID-19 consider social inequalities in health? A multiple case study from Brazil, Canada, France & Mali," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    7. Gesa Czwikla & Filip Boen & Derek G. Cook & Johan de Jong & Tess Harris & Lisa K. Hilz & Steve Iliffe & Richard Morris & Saskia Muellmann & Denise A. Peels & Claudia R. Pischke & Benjamin Schüz & Mart, 2019. "Equity-Specific Effects of Interventions to Promote Physical Activity among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Development of a Collaborative Equity-Specific Re-Analysis Strategy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-17, September.
    8. Rosalind Wallace & Rachel Franklin & Susan Grant-Muller & Alison Heppenstall & Victoria Houlden, 2022. "Estimating the social and spatial impacts of Covid mitigation strategies in United Kingdom regions: synthetic data and dashboards [Developing a sustainable exit strategy for COVID-19: health, econo," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 15(3), pages 683-702.
    9. Pedersen, Pia Vivian & Hjelmar, Ulf & Høybye, Mette Terp & Rod, Morten Hulvej, 2017. "Can inequality be tamed through boundary work? A qualitative study of health promotion aimed at reducing health inequalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 1-8.
    10. Jennifer F. Bobb & Maricela F. Cruz & Stephen J. Mooney & Adam Drewnowski & David Arterburn & Andrea J. Cook, 2022. "Accounting for spatial confounding in epidemiological studies with individual‐level exposures: An exposure‐penalized spline approach," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(3), pages 1271-1293, July.
    11. Chao, Dingding & Hashimoto, Hideki & Kondo, Naoki, 2015. "Dynamic impact of social stratification and social influence on smoking prevalence by gender: An agent-based model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 280-287.
    12. Struijs, Jeroen N. & Drewes, Hanneke W. & Heijink, Richard & Baan, Caroline A., 2015. "How to evaluate population management? Transforming the Care Continuum Alliance population health guide toward a broadly applicable analytical framework," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(4), pages 522-529.
    13. Goldfeld, Sharon & Downes, Marnie & Gray, Sarah & Pham, Cindy & Guo, Shuaijun & O'Connor, Elodie & Redmond, Gerry & Azpitarte, Francisco & Badland, Hannah & Woolfenden, Sue & Williams, Katrina & Pries, 2024. "Household income supplements in early childhood to reduce inequities in children's development," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    14. Haley, Danielle F. & Matthews, Stephen A. & Cooper, Hannah L.F. & Haardörfer, Regine & Adimora, Adaora A. & Wingood, Gina M. & Kramer, Michael R., 2016. "Confidentiality considerations for use of social-spatial data on the social determinants of health: Sexual and reproductive health case study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 49-56.
    15. Hurtado, David & Kawachi, Ichiro & Sudarsky, John, 2011. "Social capital and self-rated health in Colombia: The good, the bad and the ugly," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(4), pages 584-590, February.
    16. Nambisan, Satish & Wright, Mike & Feldman, Maryann, 2019. "The digital transformation of innovation and entrepreneurship: Progress, challenges and key themes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    17. Golden, Shelley D. & Perreira, Krista M., 2015. "Losing jobs and lighting up: Employment experiences and smoking in the Great Recession," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 110-118.
    18. Rosso, Annalisa & Marzuillo, Carolina & Massimi, Azzurra & De Vito, Corrado & de Belvis, Anton Giulio & La Torre, Giuseppe & Federici, Antonio & Ricciardi, Walter & Villari, Paolo, 2015. "Policy and planning of prevention in Italy: Results from an appraisal of prevention plans developed by Regions for the period 2010–2012," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(6), pages 760-769.
    19. Andrew Barnfield, 2020. "‘The Feel of the Stones, Sounds of Cars, the Different Smells’: How Incorporating the Senses Can Help Support Equitable Health Promotion," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-11, June.
    20. Elaine M. Hernandez & Mike Vuolo & Laura C. Frizzell & Brian C. Kelly, 2019. "Moving Upstream: The Effect of Tobacco Clean Air Restrictions on Educational Inequalities in Smoking Among Young Adults," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(5), pages 1693-1721, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:191:y:2017:i:c:p:84-88. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.