The Cost-Effectiveness of Using PARO, a Therapeutic Robotic Seal, to Reduce Agitation and Medication Use in Dementia: Findings from a Cluster–Randomized Controlled Trial

How do “robopets” impact the health and well‐being of residents in care homes? A systematic review of qualitative and quantitative evidence

“…Pooling of the data was not possible. Two studies (Joranson et al, ; Mervin et al, ) found that at the end of the study, the changes in the average number of regular and additional medications between the Paro intervention and the control groups were not statistically significant. Contrastingly, the third study (Petersen et al, ) reported a significant decrease in the dosage of behavioural ( p = 0.0009) and pain ( p = 0.005) medications in the Paro group at post‐intervention compared to control group, but no effect on the dosage of sleep medication ( p = 0.955) or depression medication ( p = 0.083).…”

“…The initial searches identified 2,931 unique papers. Of these, 344 were selected for full‐text review and 19 studies (reported in 27 papers) met the inclusion criteria (see Figure for reasons for exclusion): 10 qualitative studies (Birks, Bodak, Barlas, Harwood, & Pether, ; Chang & Sabanovic, ; Chang, Sabanovic, & Huber, ; Giusti & Marti, ; Gustafsson, Svanberg, & Müllersdorf, ; Iacono & Marti, ; Jung, van der Leij, & Kelders, ; Moyle et al, ; Niemelä, Määttä, & Ylikauppila, ; Pfadenhauer & Dukat, ), 2 mixed methods (randomised trials with qualitative elements), reported across 8 papers (Mervin et al, ; Moyle, ; Moyle, ; Moyle, ; Moyle, ; Moyle, ; Robinson, Macdonald, Kerse, & Broadbent, , ) and seven randomised trials reported in nine papers (Banks, Willoughby, & Banks, ; Joranson, Pedersen, Rokstad, & Ihlebaek, , ; Libin & Cohen‐Mansfield, ; Moyle et al, ; Petersen, Houston, Qin, Tague, & Studley, ; Thodberg, Sorensen, Christensen, et al, ; Thodberg, Sørensen, Videbech, et al, ; Valenti Soler et al, ). An update search, carried out in July 2018 across all databases with de‐duping against those already screened, found no additional included papers or studies.…”

Does Cognitive Impairment and Agitation in Dementia Influence Intervention Effectiveness? Findings From a Cluster-Randomized-Controlled Trial With the Therapeutic Robot, PARO

“…We used data from the PARO intervention arm of a larger cluster-RCT, conducted between June 14, 2014, and May 16, 2015, with full details published elsewhere. 5,11,12 Briefly, all participants were aged 60 years or older, had a diagnosis of dementia, and were permanent residents of a facility located within a 100km radius of Brisbane's Central Business District (Queensland, Australia). Residents' pharmaceutical treatments continued during the study, and no significant changes were found in medication usage over this time, or between intervention groups.…”

“…Residents' pharmaceutical treatments continued during the study, and no significant changes were found in medication usage over this time, or between intervention groups. 12 Exclusion criteria extended to participants with a respite care admission, dual diagnosis of a serious/persistent mental illness, terminal illness, and/or unremitting pain/distressing physical symptoms. Baseline characteristics of participants are shown in Table 1.…”

“…Drawing from our wider program of research with PARO, 12,[16][17][18][19][20][21] we suggest that, while PARO is a feasible psychosocial intervention and has some effect in managing BPSD -particularly in relation to improved engagement and pleasure -it is not suitable for all LTC residents with dementia. In clinical practice, we first recommend PARO should be restricted to people with low-moderate severity of agitation, whilst also recognising that there can be considerable variation in response to PARO between individuals with similar clinical profiles.…”