Caring Over Computing: An Ethical and Sociotechnical Perspective on Generative AI for Social Connectedness in Dementia Care

2026-07-21

AI Summary

This study addresses the weakening of social connectedness among residents with dementia in care homes, a consequence of mounting caregiving pressures, by exploring how generative artificial intelligence (AI) can be responsibly embedded within complex care environments to support interpersonal interaction. Through participatory workshops with care staff and drawing on qualitative methods and an ethics-of-care framework, the research examines how social connections are identified and fostered in practice. Findings reveal that existing technologies often remain peripheral to care delivery and rely heavily on human mediation, while effective caregiving requires ongoing adaptation to individual needs. The study thus proposes that generative AI should function as a supportive tool integrated into person-centered care processes—enhancing, rather than replacing, human interaction—and articulates principles for responsible AI deployment from a sociotechnical systems perspective.

Abstract

People with dementia in residential care often experience reduced social connectedness. Person-centered care approaches foreground meaningful social interactions to support well-being, but staff and time pressures increasingly constrain opportunities for such care. Generative AI (GenAI) technologies offer possibilities for helping care professionals facilitate social connectedness, despite increasing care pressures. Yet, the meaningful integration of such technologies into the complex sociotechnical setting of residential dementia care is not straightforward. To responsibly design GenAI technologies for dementia care, we need to investigate how care professionals recognize and foster social connectedness and how technologies intersect with those approaches in care contexts. We conducted five workshops with 15 care professionals from three care organizations to pursue this objective. Our findings show that fostering social connectedness involves ongoing interpretation, negotiation, and adaptation to residents' individual needs. Technology was used by care professionals to support communication, interaction, and shared activities, yet remained largely peripheral to everyday care routines and required active mediation for use in practice. Drawing on an ethics of care framework, we derive ethical and sociotechnical implications for the responsible design and positioning of GenAI in residential dementia care.

Problem

• generative AI
• social connectedness
• dementia care
• ethics of care
• sociotechnical systems

Innovation

• Generative AI
• ethics of care
• social connectedness
• sociotechnical design
• dementia care