Abstract
BackgroundTechnology-assisted clinical interventions are increasingly common in the health care field, often with the proposed aim to improve access to and cost-effectiveness of care. Current technology platforms delivering interventions are largely mobile apps and online websites, although efforts have been made to create more personalized and embodied technology experiences. To extend and improve on these platforms, the field of robotics has been increasingly included in conversations of how to deliver technology-assisted, interactive, and responsive mental health and psychological well-being interventions. Socially assistive robots (SARs) are robotic technology platforms with audio, visual, and movement capabilities that are being developed to interact with individuals socially while also assisting them with management of their physical and psychological well-being. However, little is known about the empirical evidence or utility of using SARs in mental health interventions.ObjectiveThe review synthesizes and describes the nascent empirical literature of SARs in mental health research and identifies strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement in future research and practice.MethodsSearches in Medline, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, PubMed, and IEEE Xplore yielded 12 studies included in the final review after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. and full-text reviews were conducted by two authors independently.ResultsThis systematic review of the literature found 5 distinct SARs used in research to investigate the potential for this technology to address mental health and psychological well-being outcomes. Research on mental health applications of SARs focuses largely on elderly dementia patients and relies on usability pilot data with methodological limitations.ConclusionsThe current SARs research in mental health use is limited in generalizability, scope, and measurement of psychological outcomes. Opportunities for expansion of research in this area include diversifying populations studied, SARs used, clinical applications, measures used, and settings for those applications.
Highlights
OverviewThere is a well-documented gap between individuals in need of support for mental health concerns and those who receive care [1,2,3,4]
The 12 studies included in our review used 5 different social robots (Paro, NAO, CRECA, Betty, and Haptic Creature) constituting 3 major areas of robotic applications for mental health developed from our review: comfort/companionship, stress reduction, and motivation
Three studies were not conducted with a clinical mental health sample but from participants recruited from the community or from local colleges
Summary
OverviewThere is a well-documented gap between individuals in need of support for mental health concerns and those who receive care [1,2,3,4]. One study found that technology-assisted support and treatments may be appealing to potential patients and health centers because telehealth delivery methods can improve access and are often cost effective [7]. Online interventions have the potential to reach patients who might otherwise not have access to mental health or other clinical care, as 82% of adults in the United States have access to either the internet at home or wireless mobile devices [14]. Technology-assisted clinical interventions are increasingly common in the health care field, often with the proposed aim to improve access to and cost-effectiveness of care. To extend and improve on these platforms, the field of robotics has been increasingly included in conversations of how to deliver technology-assisted, interactive, and responsive mental health and psychological well-being interventions. Little is known about the empirical evidence or utility of using SARs in mental health interventions
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