Occupational Therapy Students' Perceptions of the Role of Robots in the Care for Older People Living in the Community.
Sławomir Tobis, Mirosława Cylkowska-Nowak, Katarzyna Wieczorowska-Tobis and 2 others
PMID 29097983WHAT IT FOUND
Final-year occupational therapy students saw robots as useful assistants, especially for reminders and health monitoring.
They doubted robots could provide companionship, and feared too much help could make older people less active.
Key findings
01Most students thought older people were unprepared to interact with the robot, with 22 of 26 scoring the statement negatively.
02Students rated the robot as a useful device and an assistant more positively than as a companion, with 24 of 26 and 21 of 26 positive ratings versus 10 positive ratings for companion.
03Students warned that a robot could increase dependency and reduce older people's activity if it replaces too many tasks.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study included 26 students from one university, so it may not represent all occupational therapy students, practising occupational therapists, older people, or other countries. Participants had no real interaction with a healthcare robot; they saw pictures of the Kompaï robot, so the findings are opinions about a concept rather than experience of use. The outcome was students' perceptions, not patient outcomes, robot performance, safety, or acceptance by older people.
Declared interests
The work was part of the ENRICHME project financed by the European Union Horizon 2020 program, grant number 643691, and approved by the Bioethical Committee of Poznan University of Medical Sciences, number 785/16. The supplied text gives no author conflict-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that robots improve care for older people or that they will be accepted in practice. The study reports perceptions of 26 occupational therapy students who had not interacted with a robot, only seen pictures, so it cannot show what older people or therapists do when a robot is used.