Abstract
The interest in robot-assisted therapies (RAT) for dementia care has grown steadily in recent years. However, RAT using humanoid robots is still a novel practice for which the adhesion mechanisms, indications and benefits remain unclear. Also, little is known about how the robot's behavioral and affective style might promote engagement of persons with dementia (PwD) in RAT. The present study sought to investigate the use of a humanoid robot in a psychomotor therapy for PwD. We examined the robot's potential to engage participants in the intervention and its effect on their emotional state. A brief psychomotor therapy program involving the robot as the therapist's assistant was created. For this purpose, a corpus of social and physical behaviors for the robot and a “control software” for customizing the program and operating the robot were also designed. Particular attention was given to components of the RAT that could promote participant's engagement (robot's interaction style, personalization of contents). In the pilot assessment of the intervention nine PwD (7 women and 2 men, M age = 86 y/o) hospitalized in a geriatrics unit participated in four individual therapy sessions: one classic therapy (CT) session (patient- therapist) and three RAT sessions (patient-therapist-robot). Outcome criteria for the evaluation of the intervention included: participant's engagement, emotional state and well-being; satisfaction of the intervention, appreciation of the robot, and empathy-related behaviors in human-robot interaction (HRI). Results showed a high constructive engagement in both CT and RAT sessions. More positive emotional responses in participants were observed in RAT compared to CT. RAT sessions were better appreciated than CT sessions. The use of a social robot as a mediating tool appeared to promote the involvement of PwD in the therapeutic intervention increasing their immediate wellbeing and satisfaction.
Highlights
Psychosocial interventions, such as cognitive stimulation, physical activities and art-mediated therapies, play a key role in dementia care
The main objective of the present study is to investigate the feasibility of using a humanoid robot as an assistant in psychomotor therapy for persons with dementia (PwD)
The sessions had a mean duration of 22.15 min, for a total of 770.19 min altogether that were video-analyzed
Summary
Psychosocial interventions, such as cognitive stimulation, physical activities and art-mediated therapies, play a key role in dementia care. Most social robots offer a great flexibility of programming allowing the creation of diverse behaviors and customization For this reason, they have a great potential to support care interventions taking into account inter-individual differences, a well-known success factor in dementia care. (2) Motor section: The section begins with a warm-up exercise by which the person is brought to rediscover and move different parts of his/her body (e.g., head, hands, arms, legs) This exercise should contribute to raise patient’s alertness and allows him/her to be physically and mentally available for the session. A “control software” allowing the personalization of the therapy sessions and the operation of the robot was created During this conception and development phase of the program, the psychomotor therapist and the engineer worked together enabling continuous feedback on the quality of the robot’s movements and interactions
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