Background: Medication is an important approach of treatment for patients with schizophrenia; however, the availability of visiting nurses and other human-related support is limited. This study aims to build a system in which service robots support the treatment of individuals with schizophrenia with medication at home. Moreover, medical staff can seamlessly monitor the status of their patients through the robots using this system. In this study, to develop a support system, interactions between a communication robot and patients were surveyed, with a focus on the patients' impression of the robot and actual utterance times. Methods: Communication between a commercially available communication robot and schizophrenic patients was investigated, particularly the participants' feelings about the robot. In addition, the utterance data between the participants and the robot were extracted and the durations of the conversations were assessed. Results: The examined interaction mode of a robot (talkative or not talkative) and whether the participant spoke or not (spoke or did not speak) revealed no significant association in all adjectives. A co-occurrence network graph showed differences in the participants' impressions of the robot depending on how talkative the robot was. That is, when the robot did not initiate conversation often, the patient was more likely to initiate interactions and use longer phrases than when the robot initiated conversation frequently. Conversations also lasted longer when the participant, not the robot, initiated conversation.
Medication is a key treatment for patients with schizophrenia. Patients with schizophrenia tend to easily decrease medication adherence with long-term treatment. However, there is a chronic shortage of specialists who provide medication support, such as visiting nurses. In addition, these patients do not often use smartphones or PCs in their daily lives. Thus, schizophrenic patients need a direct approach in the physical world because they are unfamiliar with cyberspace. This study aims to improve the home treatment environment using robot technology that can approach in the physical world of schizophrenic patients who need medication support. In this study, collaboration between psychiatric nursing specialists and medical engineers investigated the interaction between communication robots and patients. The results showed that the robot was accepted by patients with schizophrenia as a talking partner. The amount of robot talking seemed to affect the impression of the robot on schizophrenics. Utterance process analysis showed that the smoothness of the conversation affected the relationship between robots and schizophrenics.
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