506 - Methodologies used to study the feasibility, usability and effectiveness of social robots in clinical and social care settings for elderly adults

Abstract

Background: In a search for innovative dementia care strategies, a new research fields have beendedicated to design social robots for older adults with cognitive impairments and dementia in order topromote their quality of life through communication and social interactions. Although the results arepromising, the quality of studies on effectiveness of social robots in elderly adults is still low due toseveral methodological limitations (1). Then, we aim to review the methodologies used so far forconducting studies with social robots in clinical and social settings with people with dementia andelderly adults.Method: Searches in Medline (PubMed), Web of Science, PsycInfo, and Cinahl yielded 33 studiesincluded in the final review after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. Reviews were conducted bytwo authors independently.Result: Across 33 papers, 23 different social robots were examined on elderly adults and PwD,investigating feasibility, usability and effectiveness. A variety of study designs such as RCTs, mixedmethods, cross-sectional and cohort were employed. Individual and group-based interventions tookplace in private households, LTCFs and labs within a single session or multiple sessions. Data werecollected through observation, questionnaires, interview and physiological tests. Most revealedimprovements were found in mood, engagement and participation. However, improvements in QoL,depression and cognition were not significant.Conclusion: Despite the promising results, due to the insufficient methodology, failures and ambitiousfindings remain within the many aspects of the enquiry. Appropriate RCT designs with large sample sizesand individual intervention sessions might be established for effectiveness studies. Forfeasibility/usability studies, a cohort design with long-term intervention would serve best. We alsorecommend a mixed method of data collection for any of three effectiveness, feasibility and usabilitystudy aims. Multiple interaction sessions running for more than one month might help researches todraw significant results and reveal the long-term impact of the robots.