Inclusive Digital Transformation in Dementia: Evidence, Design, Policy and social impact

Digital tools and AI-enabled systems are redefining dementia support and care, with the potential to improve diagnosis, daily support, care coordination and long-term wellbeing for people living with dementia and their caregivers. Yet these technologies also raise critical ethical and practical questions around autonomy, privacy and data protection, evolving consent and capacity, equity and accessibility, algorithmic accountability, and the preservation of human dignity. This Research Topic asks how innovation can remain person-centred and relationship-enhancing, while avoiding digital exclusion, stigma or over-surveillance.This Research Topic aims to consolidate evidence and frameworks for the responsible integration of digital platforms in everyday dementia care, while advancing person-centred and ethically robust design, deployment and evaluation of dementia-related digital platforms. We particularly welcome studies rooted in real-world contexts, including homes, community services, primary care and long-term care, as well as co-design approaches such as living labs and interdisciplinary collaborations that demonstrate transparent development and robust impact evaluation. Contributions should clarify how digital platforms fit with routines, preferences and care pathways, and how benefits are measured, including acceptability, usability, perceived usefulness, effectiveness, perceived safety, adoption and sustained use, caregiver burden, quality of life, safety, cost-effectiveness, equity, social influence and perceived enjoyment.We also seek work that identifies implementation enablers and barriers, including workflow fit, training, reimbursement, interoperability, regulation and governance, and that promotes co-creation with people living with dementia and caregivers to ensure alignment with lived experience. Of particular interest is policy- and practice-oriented work that fosters guidance on privacy, data protection, algorithmic accountability and the proportionality of monitoring, translating technological progress into tangible, respectful and equitable outcomes.We invite original and interdisciplinary contributions that critically examine and empirically test digital health and AI-enabled platforms for dementia care, with explicit attention to ethics, equity, usability and sustained adoption. Submissions should articulate the problem addressed, the user groups involved, including caregivers, the setting, and the pathway to real-world impact. We particularly encourage collaborations between clinicians, computer scientists and engineers, designers, ethicists, social scientists, and patient and caregiver advocates.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:- Telehealth and hybrid-care platforms for follow-ups, counselling and caregiver guidance, including accessibility, confidentiality and usability.- Care coordination platforms, including shared calendars, documentation, task management, multi-provider communication, interoperability and governance.- Supportive monitoring and safety tools, such as check-ins, wearables and home sensing, with attention to proportionality, consent over time and avoiding intrusive surveillance.- Cognitive and activities-of-daily-living support apps, including reminders, prompts and routines, and their usability across disease stages.- Caregiver education and peer-support communities, including moderation, digital inclusion, prevention of misinformation and design for low-literacy users.- Wellbeing and engagement tools, such as music, reminiscence and personalised activities, supporting identity, social connection and quality of life.- Human-centred and participatory design, including co-design, living labs, inclusive design and accessibility standards.- Ethics, law and governance, including privacy-by-design, data minimisation, transparency, explainability and accountability frameworks.- Implementation science and evaluation, including comparative effectiveness, cost-utility, patient- and caregiver-reported measures.- Equity and inclusion, including the digital divide, socio-economic and cultural barriers, languages, accessibility and universal design.- Education and training for professionals and caregivers in the safe and effective use of digital platforms.- Policy and systems integration, including reimbursement, public procurement, standards and integration into care pathways. Topic editors: David Facal Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/79334/inclusive-digital-transformation-in-dementia-evidence-design-policy-and-social-impact