Feasibility and effect of a therapeutic robot PARO on moods and social interaction in older adults with declining cognitive function

Abstract

SociallyAssistive Robots is a growing area for geriatric research 1 2 .This paper aims to investigate the feasibility and the potential benefits of a robot-assisted intervention using PARO 3 4 , as shown in Figure 1, in older adults with cognitive decline.Reliability in the interpretation of the participants' responses during intervention was evaluated.Method Community-dwelling older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild-to-moderate dementia were recruited to receive a single-session PARO intervention.Moods were measured with the simplified face scale before and after intervention.The intervention sessions were videotaped, and were observed by two raters -one occupational therapist and one medical researcher-who independently marked the participants' responses towards PARO on an observation table on an every-minute basis (with standardized rating criteria), on two different occasions with an interval of 2-4 weeks.Inter-and intra-rater reliability was assessed using intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC).Results & Discussion PARO intervention was successfully implemented in community-dwelling older adults with MCI or dementia.Eleven participants (age range 73-88 years, 82% female, MMSE range 9-24) completed the intervention (9 received group based intervention (Figure 2) and 2 received individual based intervention) and the mean participation time was 27 minutes (range 17-30 minutes).Most participants remained focused on PARO for the entire duration of the session, and the most frequent facial expressions to PARO consisted of neutral, smile, and laugh; with the occurrence rate during the therapy at 91, 34, and 17%, respectively.All participants continued to gently stroke/hold PARO during the interaction, while ten (90.9%) talked directly with PARO in a dyadic relation as if it was a real living pet.According to the comments from the patients' therapist, PARO also promoted conversation between the participants.Furthermore, participants demonstrated improvement in patients' moods (pre-intervention: 3.44, post-intervention: 2.44), but the difference did not reach statistical significance.Inter-and intra-rater reliability of the interpretation of the participants' responses towards PARO was good with an ICC ranged from 0.95-1.00and 0.87-1.00,respectively.The observation table and rating criteria were found to have good inter-and intra-rater reliability.