ABSTRACT
Objective: We investigated the impact of using a companion robot on the mental state of a community-dwelling older adult who was receiving home-visit rehabilitation services during the state of emergency for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: This case involved an 80-year-old woman with compression fractures of lumbar vertebrae 1 and 2. Her medical history included hypothyroidism, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and depression. The companion robot used was Smibi®, a healing baby robot that responds in various ways depending on how the user interacts with it. The patient interacted (e.g., hugging, conversing) with Smibi® for 30 minutes per day for 1 month, from April 2020 (immediately before the declaration of a state of emergency in Japan) to May 2020. The patient was evaluated with the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) before and after using Smibi®. Results: The SDS score decreased from 37 points to 26 points after the use of Smibi®. The items related to diurnal variation, sleep, despair about the future, and dissatisfaction decreased by 2–3 points. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that interacting with Smibi® may improve depression in older adults who have been forced to refrain from going out due to the spread of COVID-19. Future studies with long-term follow-up and large sample sizes are required to confirm the effectiveness of companion robots in improving depression among community-dwelling older adults.
ABSTRACT
Objective: We investigated the impact of using a companion robot on the mental state of a community-dwelling older adult who was receiving home-visit rehabilitation services during the state of emergency for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: This case involved an 80-year-old woman with compression fractures of lumbar vertebrae 1 and 2. Her medical history included hypothyroidism, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and depression. The companion robot used was Smibi®, a healing baby robot that responds in various ways depending on how the user interacts with it. The patient interacted (e.g., hugging, conversing) with Smibi® for 30 minutes per day for 1 month, from April 2020 (immediately before the declaration of a state of emergency in Japan) to May 2020. The patient was evaluated with the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) before and after using Smibi®. Results: The SDS score decreased from 37 points to 26 points after the use of Smibi®. The items related to diurnal variation, sleep, despair about the future, and dissatisfaction decreased by 2-3 points. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that interacting with Smibi® may improve depression in older adults who have been forced to refrain from going out due to the spread of COVID-19. Future studies with long-term follow-up and large sample sizes are required to confirm the effectiveness of companion robots in improving depression among community-dwelling older adults.
ABSTRACT
Virtual coaching systems show great potential for meeting the challenges of demographic change. However, the proportion of older users in the field of digital technologies is far behind that of younger people. As part of the e-VITA project, semi-structured interviews were conducted in Japan, France, Italy and Germany with 58 people aged 65 and over, and the content was analyzed with the aim of obtaining information about how older adults organize their everyday lives, also with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, how they deal with their health, what role digital technologies play in the lives of the interviewees and why they oppose progressive digitization. Second, the survey asked why the older adults oppose a virtual coach, which is to be developed in the e-VITA project to support older adults in healthy and active aging, and what barriers they see in a possible implementation. It was found that older respondents lead active, varied lives and that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the increased use of digital solutions. In addition, respondents were consciously addressing their own health. With regard to a virtual coach, barriers were seen primarily in the area of data security and sharing. It can be concluded from this that heterogeneity among older user groups should be taken into account when developing virtual coaches. In addition, aspects of data security and data protection should be presented in a clearly understandable and transparent manner.