Ethically Guiding Healthcare Technology Innovation – A Qualitative Study Investigating Impact

The Guidance Ethics Approach (GEA) is one example of an approach which can be used to embed ethics early on in healthcare technology innovation (HTI). However, there is limited understanding of whether, when and how ethics guidance meaningfully influences innovation processes and decisions. As a result, ethics involvement risks becoming procedural rather than impactful. Therefore, this study explores how the GEA functions within HTI processes and what factors shape its impact, according to the perspectives of involved experts. For the study, 19 experts – technology developers, project managers, and researchers – were interviewed. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts led to the development of four themes; the benefit of concretisation, the value of criticism, the paradox of stakeholder involvement, and the long-term influence on structural processes. Many stakeholders emphasised the importance of a concrete method to perform ethical analysis, highlighting the need for a hands-on approach when performing transdisciplinary research. In addition, many stakeholders felt that criticism was valuable and noticed that the stakeholders who voiced strong criticism made a long-lasting impression. However, although their criticism was viewed as important, participants found it difficult to define the concrete impact that this had on HTI processes. The long-term effects of the GEA workshop were mainly described in terms of organisational change; related to stakeholder involvement earlier in the innovation process and an increased focus on fostering transdisciplinary collaboration. In addition to the themes, the study defines several types of impact that the GEA can have, distinguishing between procedural and substantive types of impact. This study gives in-depth insight into how the insights from the GEA are translated into the practice of innovation and contributes to identifying factors that shape how ethics guidance impacts innovation processes. This helps to define and ultimately promote meaningful integration of ethics and HTI.

Co-authors: André Krom, Martine de Vries, Nienke de Graeff.