Artificial Intelligence in Rehabilitation Targeting the Participation of Children and Youth With Disabilities: Scoping Review

Abstract

Background In the last decade, there has been a rapid increase in research on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve child and youth participation in daily life activities, which is a key rehabilitation outcome. However, existing reviews place variable focus on participation, are narrow in scope, and are restricted to select diagnoses, hindering interpretability regarding the existing scope of AI applications that target the participation of children and youth in a pediatric rehabilitation setting. Objective The aim of this scoping review is to examine how AI is integrated into pediatric rehabilitation interventions targeting the participation of children and youth with disabilities or other diagnosed health conditions in valued activities. Methods We conducted a comprehensive literature search using established Applied Health Sciences and Computer Science databases. Two independent researchers screened and selected the studies based on a systematic procedure. Inclusion criteria were as follows: participation was an explicit study aim or outcome or the targeted focus of the AI application; AI was applied as part of the provided and tested intervention; children or youth with a disability or other diagnosed health conditions were the focus of either the study or AI application or both; and the study was published in English. Data were mapped according to the types of AI, the mode of delivery, the type of personalization, and whether the intervention addressed individual goal-setting. Results The literature search identified 3029 documents, of which 94 met the inclusion criteria. Most of the included studies used multiple applications of AI with the highest prevalence of robotics (72/94, 77%) and human-machine interaction (51/94, 54%). Regarding mode of delivery, most of the included studies described an intervention delivered in-person (84/94, 89%), and only 11% (10/94) were delivered remotely. Most interventions were tailored to groups of individuals (93/94, 99%). Only 1% (1/94) of interventions was tailored to patients’ individually reported participation needs, and only one intervention (1/94, 1%) described individual goal-setting as part of their therapy process or intervention planning. Conclusions There is an increasing amount of research on interventions using AI to target the participation of children and youth with disabilities or other diagnosed health conditions, supporting the potential of using AI in pediatric rehabilitation. On the basis of our results, 3 major gaps for further research and development were identified: a lack of remotely delivered participation-focused interventions using AI; a lack of individual goal-setting integrated in interventions; and a lack of interventions tailored to individually reported participation needs of children, youth, or families.

Improvements for Therapeutic Intervention from the Use of Web Applications and Machine Learning Techniques in Different Affectations in Children Aged 0–6 Years

“…Future research will attempt to address this challenge. This conclusion is directly related to that indicated by Kaelin et al [ 21 ] in their recent systematic review study.…”

“…The use of machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques is being pioneered in disciplines such as psychology and neuroscience. Moreover, their use is considered to have a promising future for the advancement of diagnosis and therapeutic intervention [ 20 , 21 ]. However, a limited scope and the need to increase studies in this field have been detected [ 21 ].…”

“…Moreover, their use is considered to have a promising future for the advancement of diagnosis and therapeutic intervention [ 20 , 21 ]. However, a limited scope and the need to increase studies in this field have been detected [ 21 ].…”

Global Trends and Hotspots in Research on Rehabilitation Robots: A Bibliometric Analysis From 2010 to 2020

“…Rehabilitation robotics is a relatively young and rapidly growing field with increasing penetration into the clinical environment ( 1 , 2 ). Functional rehabilitation and the auxiliary robot have gradually become important technical means of clinical rehabilitation treatment in the world and have spawned several new rehabilitation robot technologies and systems ( 3 ). They have received great attention from all countries and have developed with each passing day ( 4 ).…”

Capturing and Operationalizing Participation in Pediatric Re/Habilitation Research Using Artificial Intelligence: A Scoping Review

“…In pediatric re/habilitation, AI may help to consolidate and analyze information in ways that afford for providers to more efficiently enact the evaluation and goal-setting, intervention, and reevaluation phases of the therapeutic process ( 14 ) to deliver client-centered and participation-focused re/habilitation interventions ( 15 , 16 ). In the last decade there has been a vast increase in research on the use of AI in participation-focused pediatric re/habilitation warranting need for summarizing the body of literature in this area of work ( 17 ).…”