Clara Berridge

Associate Professor
Katherine Hall Chambers Scholar

 / 
206-685-2180
  / Room 
211H

Clara Berridge’s research focuses on the ethical and policy implications of digital technologies used in elder care. She studies data and information technologies, such as remote monitoring systems and social robots, as well as the surveillance incentivized by AI of older adults and care workers. Across projects, she’s often thinking about privacy, power, and decision making about technology use. Dr. Berridge has also studied positive aging paradigms and nursing home culture change. She recently developed Let's Talk Tech, an online tool to help people living with mild dementia participate knowledgeably in decisions about technology use in their care.  

Dr. Berridge is adjunct faculty in the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, core faculty in the University’s Disability Studies Program, and an affiliate of the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology (CSDE). She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research at Brown University and holds a Ph.D. in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley and an M.S.W. from the University of Washington. 

Recent Media:  

Assistive tech for older adults is becoming increasingly automated. What are the privacy risks? KUOW npr network. Soundside. (Sept 20, 2023). 

Berridge, C., Grigorovich, A. We need to talk about “digital ageism.” Data & Society: Points. (March 29, 2023). 

Can Robots Really Help the Aging? Flash Forward Podcast, (Nov 21, 2022). 

How new monitoring systems keep a close watch on older people. Washington Post, (Nov 23, 2021).   

How big tech is pitching digital elder care to families. The Markup, (Oct 28, 2021).  

Should families’ surveillance cameras be allowed in nursing homes? The Markup, (June 30, 2021). 

Apple’s new health features bring new focus to elder care technology. The Verge, (June 10, 2021).  

The future of elder care is here – and it’s artificial intelligence, The Guardian, (June 3, 2021).  

’We find our way:’ How older adults are coping with pandemic isolation, KUOW (Dec 23, 2020).   

Senior Sensors: Digital contact tracing wasn’t up for debate in senior living facilities, The Verge, (Oct 15, 2020).   

When Does Someone Become ‘Old’? The Atlantic, (Jan 27, 2020).   

Berridge, C., Levy, K. Webcams in nursing home rooms may deter elder abuse—but are they ethical? The Conversation, (July 24, 2019).   

Publications:  

Berridge, C., Zhou, Y., Robillard, J., Kaye, J. AI companion robot data sharing: comfort and preferences of an online cohort with policy implications. Journal of Elder Policy. 2023. 

Turner, N., Berridge, C. How I want technology used in my care and why: Learning from documented choices of people living with dementia using a dyadic advance care planning tool. Informatics for Health and Social Care. 2023. 

Berridge, C., Turner, N., Liu, L., Fredriksen-Goldsen, K., Lyons, K., Demiris, G., Kaye, J., Lober, W.B. Preliminary efficacy of Let’s Talk Tech: Technology use planning for dementia care dyads. Innovation in Aging, 2023. 

Berridge, C., Zhou, Y., Robillard, J., Kaye, J. Companion robots to mitigate loneliness among older adults: Perceptions of benefit and possible deception. Frontiers in Psychology, 2023.  

Turner, N., Freitag, C., Johnson, I., Ramirez, M., Parsey, C., Berridge, C. The Role of Trust in Older Adult Service Provision at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. J. Gerontological Social Work, 2023. 

Berridge, C., Grigorovich, A. Algorithmic harms and digital ageism in the use of surveillance technologies in nursing homes. Frontiers in Sociology, 2022. 

Berridge, C., Turner, N.R., Liu, L., Karras, S.W., Chen, A., Fredriksen-Goldsen, K., Demiris, G. Advance planning for technology use in dementia care: Development, design and feasibility of a novel self-administered decision-making tool. JMIR Aging, 2022. 

Berridge, C., Zhou, Y., Lazar, A., Porwal, A., Mattek, N., Gothard, S., Kaye, J. Control matters in elder care technology: Evidence and direction for designing it in. In Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '22). Association for Computing Machinery, 2022. *Best Paper Award  

Freitag, C., Johnson, I., Berridge, C., Ramirez, M., Parsey, C., Allard, S.W. Meeting older adults’ food needs during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons and challenges from Washington State. J Aging & Social Policy, 2022. 

Berridge, C., Turner, A., Zaslavsky, O., Parsey, C. Design for dementia: A call from the health sciences. Interactions, 2022. 

Berridge, C., Ganti, A., Taylor, D., Rain, B., Bahl, S. Infusing MSW programs with disability studies and disability justice: How to create and implement explicit curriculum. J Social Work Education, 2022. Full Text  

Berridge, C., Demiris, G., Kaye, J. Domain experts on dementia-care technologies: mitigating risk in design and implementation. Science and Engineering Ethics, 2021.  

Berridge, C., Hooyman, N. The consequences of ageist language are upon us.  J Gerontological Social Work, 2020.  

Berridge, C., Parsey, C.M., Ramirez, M., Freitag, C., Johnson, I.M., Allard, S.W. Public Report: Caring for Washington’s older adults in the COVID-19 pandemic: Interviews with organization leaders about the state of social and healthcare services, 2020, Oct 12.   

Berridge, C., Lima, J., Schwartz, M., Bishop, C., Miller, S.C.  Leadership, staff empowerment and the retention of nursing assistants: Findings from a survey of U.S. nursing homes. J American Medical Directors Association, 2020.  

Berridge, C., Wetle, T.F. Why older adults and their children disagree about in-home surveillance technology, sensors, and tracking. Gerontologist, 2020.  

Berridge, C. Monitoring the monitors: Medicaid integration of passive remote monitoring technology. J Gerontological Social Work, 2019. Full text  

Berridge, C., Halpern, J., Levy, K. Cameras on beds: The ethics of surveillance in nursing home rooms. AJOB Empirical Bioethics, 2019. Full text  

Levy, K., Kilgour, L., Berridge, C. Regulating privacy in public/private space: the case of nursing home monitoring laws. Elder Law Journal, 2019. 

Berridge, C., Chan, K.T., Choi, Y. Sensor-based passive remote monitoring and discordant values: Qualitative study of the experiences of low-income immigrant elders in the United States. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, 2019.   

Berridge, C. Medicaid becomes the first third-party payer to cover passive remote monitoring for home care: Policy analysis. JMIR, 2018.   

Berridge, C., Mor, V. Disparities in the prevalence of unmet needs and their consequences among Black and white older adults. J Aging Health, 2018.  

Berridge, C., Martinson, M. Valuing old age without leveraging ableism. Generations, 2018.   

Dotolo, D., Petros, R., Berridge, C. A hard pill to swallow: Ethical problems of digital medication. Social Work, 2018. Full text  

Berridge, C., Tyler, D.A., Miller, S.C. Staff empowerment practices and CNA retention: Findings from a nationally representative nursing home culture change survey. J Applied Gerontology, 2018.   

Berridge, C. Breathing room in monitored space: The impact of passive monitoring technology on privacy in independent living. Gerontologist, 2016.   

Berridge, C. Active subjects of passive monitoring: responses to a passive monitoring system in low-income independent living. Ageing & Society, 2016.  

Berridge, C. Selling passive monitoring to manage risk in independent living: Frontline workers in a bind. In: Under Observation: The Interplay Between eHealth and Surveillance, 2016.  

Martinson, M., Berridge, C. Successful aging and its discontents: A systematic review of the social gerontology literature. Gerontologist, 2015.   

Scharlach, A.E., Graham, C.L., Berridge, C. An integrated model of co-ordinated community-based care. Gerontologist, 2015.   

Aguilera, A., Berridge, C. Qualitative feedback from a text messaging intervention for depression: benefits, drawbacks, and cultural differences. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, 2014.    

Berridge, C. Seeing the social in technology for older adults: Making the implicit explicit through a multidisciplinary lens. In: The Collective Spirit of Aging Across Cultures, 2014.  

Portacolone, E., Berridge, C., Johnson J.K., Schicktanz, S. Time to reinvent the science of dementia: the need for care and social integration. Aging & Mental Health, 2014.   

Berridge, C., Furseth, P.I., Cuthbertson, R., Demello, S. Technology-based innovation for independent living: policy and innovation in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, and the United States. J Aging & Social Policy, 2014.  

Berridge, C. Envisioning a gerontology-enriched theory of care. Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work, 2012.