021Does a Communicative Care Robot in Nursing Homes Improve Older People’s Activity Performance? Non-Randomised Controlled Trial using the ICF Framework

Abstract

Background: The paper addresses questions raised in recent years, such as whether there are any positive impacts of communicative robots for older people. The paper also asks if there are any improvements in older people's 'activities and participation' at nursing homes using the framework of the WHO's International Classification of Function, Disability and Health (ICF). Methods: The participants are 65 older people cared for in five nursing homes (55 females and 10 males; aged 86.6 +/-8.0 yrs). The control group consisted of 15 females (aged 86.5 +/-6.3 yrs). Two types of communicative robots (Palro and Cota) were assigned to the participants for eight successive weeks. Individually, the most important five goals for nursing care were selected from 96 items identified by ICF's list of "activities and participation" prior to allocation of a robot, and the changes of "performance" were evaluated. Reactions to robots were also analysed and compared between the two groups using a chi-square test. Results: Forty three out of the 96 items were selected as targets. Improvements were observed mainly in 'communication', 'self-care', and 'social life'. The numbers of participants with total improvement, no-change, and deterioration in their "performance" scores for the selected five items were 3, 4 and 6 in the control group (n = 13), respectively. In contrast, these were 13, 5 and 2 in the Cota group (n = 20) and 33, 6 and 6 in the Palro group (n = 45). Chi-square tests demonstrated that the difference was significant (p < 0.05). Positive reaction was marked in people older than 80 yrs. No sexual difference was detected. No significant difference was found between the Palro and Cota groups. Conclusions: Communicative care robots have great potential for improving older people's quality of life. With further research, the use of these robots by older people could be considered as a serious option in the future.