Affective and Engagement Issues in the Conception and Assessment of a Robot-Assisted Psychomotor Therapy for Persons with Dementia

Abstract

The interest in robot-assisted therapies (RAT) for dementia care has grown steadily in recent years. However, RAT using humanoid robots is still a novel practice for which the adhesion mechanisms, indications and benefits remain unclear. Also, little is known about how the robot's behavioral and affective style might promote engagement of persons with dementia (PwD) in RAT. The present study sought to investigate the use of a humanoid robot in a psychomotor therapy for PwD. We examined the robot's potential to engage participants in the intervention and its effect on their emotional state. A brief psychomotor therapy program involving the robot as the therapist's assistant was created. For this purpose, a corpus of social and physical behaviors for the robot and a “control software” for customizing the program and operating the robot were also designed. Particular attention was given to components of the RAT that could promote participant's engagement (robot's interaction style, personalization of contents). In the pilot assessment of the intervention nine PwD (7 women and 2 men, M age = 86 y/o) hospitalized in a geriatrics unit participated in four individual therapy sessions: one classic therapy (CT) session (patient- therapist) and three RAT sessions (patient-therapist-robot). Outcome criteria for the evaluation of the intervention included: participant's engagement, emotional state and well-being; satisfaction of the intervention, appreciation of the robot, and empathy-related behaviors in human-robot interaction (HRI). Results showed a high constructive engagement in both CT and RAT sessions. More positive emotional responses in participants were observed in RAT compared to CT. RAT sessions were better appreciated than CT sessions. The use of a social robot as a mediating tool appeared to promote the involvement of PwD in the therapeutic intervention increasing their immediate wellbeing and satisfaction.

Understanding Engagement in Dementia Through Behavior. The Ethographic and Laban-Inspired Coding System of Engagement (ELICSE) and the Evidence-Based Model of Engagement-Related Behavior (EMODEB)

“…Socially interactive robots are robots that engage socially with humans for the sake of social interaction itself (Feil-Seifer and Mataric, 2011 ). In the context of SIR, a considerable effort has been done to understand how people with dementia interact with social robots and how such an interaction could have a therapeutic value (Bemelmans et al, 2012 ; Valentí Soler et al, 2015 ; Rouaix et al, 2017 ). To understand the meaningfulness of the interactions that social robots promote, researchers have compiled repertoires of behaviors and used them to annotate videos.…”

The effectiveness of interventions to improve the care and management of people with dementia in general hospitals: A systematic review

“…Robot‐assisted therapy: One before‐and‐after study evaluated this psychomotor therapy programme involving a humanoid robot as a therapist's assistant. It found a statistically significant positive correlation between levels of constructive engagement with the therapy and severity of BPSD (using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory).…”

“…Robot‐assisted therapy: One before‐and‐after tudy evaluated this therapy. It did not report a statistically significant difference in levels of immediate well‐being and quality of life (Instant Assessment of Wellbeing Tool; EVIBE).…”

“…It found no statistically significant difference in BPSD levels between a historical control of patient data and the intervention. 12 Robot-assisted therapy: One before-and-after study 33 Using the GRADE quality of evidence tool, we rated the impact on BPSD for all three interventions that measured this outcome as very low-quality evidence. This was because all studies had critical problems.…”

Design of New Generation of Serious Games for Patientswith Moderate Cognitive Impairment

“…A recent study was conducted in a geriatric unit with 9 people with cognitive impairment to evaluate the effects of using a NAO-based intervention in psychomotor sessions on commitment, emotional state, well-being of the person as well as the appreciation of this type of session compared to a conventional therapy session. The first results show better commitment, positive answers and a greater satisfaction of patients during sessions attended by the robot (Rouaix, N. et al, 2017).…”