Technology Acceptance Models from Different Viewpoints of Caregiver, Receiver, and Care Facility Administrator: Lessons from Long-Term Implementation Using Baby-Like Interactive Robot for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia

Abstract

The introduction of companion robots into nursing homes has positive effects on older people with dementia (PwD) but increases the physical and psychological burden on the nursing staff, such as learning how to use them, fear of breakdowns, and concern about hygiene, and the concerns of the nursing home administrator, such as increased turnover and reduced quality of care due to this. To solve this problem, it is necessary to investigate the acceptability of robots from the viewpoints of all stakeholders: PwD as receivers, nursing staff as caregivers, and nursing home administrator as a care facility administrator. However, there is still missing hypothesis about how their acceptability is structured and involved with each other. This study proposes three technology acceptance model (TAMs) from the perspectives of PwD, nursing staff, and nursing home administrator. The models are conceptualized based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results of our two experiments involving a baby-like interactive robot to stimulate PwD in the same nursing home (one with low acceptance of all stakeholders and the other with their high acceptance) in addition to the comparison with other companion robots. Based on the proposed models, we discuss an integrated TAM for the acceptance of companion robots in long-term care facilities. We also discuss the possibility of applying our approach, which examines the perspectives of various stakeholders on technology acceptance, to other areas such as health care and education, the ethical consideration of introducing a baby-like robot and some limitations.