PARO robot affects diverse interaction modalities in group sensory therapy for older adults with dementia

Abstract

We evaluated the seal-like robot PARO in the context of multi-sensory behavioral therapy in a local nursing home. Participants were 10 elderly nursing home residents with varying levels of dementia. We report three principle findings from our observations of interactions between the residents, PARO, and a therapist during seven weekly therapy sessions. Firstly, we show PARO provides indirect benefits for users by increasing their activity in particular modalities of social interaction, including visual, verbal, and physical interaction, which vary between primary and non-primary interactors. Secondly, PARO's positive effects on older adults' activity levels show steady growth over the duration of our study, suggesting they are not due to short-term "novelty effects." Finally, we show a variety of ways in which individual participants interacted with PARO and relate this to the "interpretive flexibility" of its design.

Robotic Seals as Therapeutic Tools in an Aged Care Facility: A Qualitative Study

“…Past research identified therapeutic benefits emotionally [22, 26], physically [9], behaviourally [28], and socially [9, 21, 23, 24]. The research reported in this paper adds support to these findings for the use of Paro in improving mood, reducing challenging behaviour, and facilitating social interactions.…”

“…Reduced loneliness has been identified previously as a benefit of Paro [9, 23] and the observations of participants in this study suggested two main processes in this respect: the establishment of a direct relationship with the robotic seal and its use in facilitating better social connections with others. Isolated and withdrawn residents talked to Paro in a conversational manner and end-of-life residents verbalised their internal world, in both contexts seemingly reducing a sense of being alone.…”

“…One group of researchers in the USA [22, 23] used observations and video recordings of participants interacting with Paro [23] or combined these with interviews with therapists to identify the positive potential that Paro has when used with people living with dementia [22]. Researchers from New Zealand [24] similarly used video and interviews with a broad range of residents and staff at an aged care facility to identify primarily social benefits.…”

Digital technologies for the assessment of cognition: a clinical review

“…Other technologies are being specifically developed to target dementia-related deficits. One example is PARO:45 a socially assistive robot seal pup, which has been shown to increase social interactions between patients with dementia in a group therapy session. Another system, BikeAround,46 employs a stationary bike paired with a virtual reality projection of Google Street View to allow patients with dementia to ‘visit’ personally significant locations and, in doing this, tap into their autobiographical memories.…”

Electrodermal activity: Explorations in the psychophysiology of engagement with social robots in dementia

“…deemed useful to improve positive affect [9] and social interactions and to reduce loneliness [10] [11].…”