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A survey of expectations about using robot therapy for the elderly
Joint Event on 12th International Conference on Vascular Dementia and Dementia & 8th International Conference on Neurological Disorders and Stroke
March 14-16, 2019 | London, UK
Kazue Sawami, Kimura M, Kitamura T, Furusumi M, Kawaguchi M, Suishu C, Morisaki N and Hattori S
Nara Medical University, Japan Shubun University, Japan Himeji University, Japan Wakayama Medical University, Japan
Posters & Accepted Abstracts : J Brain Neurol
Abstract:
Introduction: Japan’s life expectancy has grown, with people
now able to live until they are 100 years old. It is a wish of all
people to spend their old age richly and happily. However, as
the population of young people is decreasing, it is necessary to
devise measures to support the elderly. With this in mind, we hold
seminars about supporting the elderly once every two weeks
to train supporters to have the necessary expertise and skills.
On top of that we are experimenting in using a communication
robot as an assistant. This time at the supporter seminar, we will
carry out training in robot therapy for the seminar attendees and
announce the results of a questionnaire about the use of robots.
Method: The target of the questionnaire was 41 supporter
seminar attendees, and the survey items are opinions on the
psychological influence of robot therapy and the use of robots.
Result: The average age of the attendees was 60.1 ± 9.5 years old,
35 females and 6 males. The top five influences of robot therapy
were as follows. 1) Fun, 2) Cheers you up, 3) Improvement of
mind and body by dancing with a robot, 4) Improvement in
cognitive functions through communication, 5) Helps with
stress prevention. The opinions of robot therapy were able to
be used by elderly people without putting them in any harm,
able to be used as a supplement for exercise, provides brain
training, someone to talk to and provides psychological care.
Conclusion: Not only for fun and healing, the influence of
robot therapy has been mentioned as a way to improve mental
and physical functions. In the utilization method, the ability
to avoid harm to the elderly is cited first, so the two points of
improvement in mental and physical functions and avoiding risk
by the robot could be focused on as the goal of robot therapy. This
research funding is scientific research expenses of the Japanese
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
We are grateful to NTT East for their contributions to the study.
Biography:
Kazue Sawami of the presenter of this research is a professor at Nara Medical University. Her Ph.D. acquisition is a health science, and the recent study is the prevention of dementia in elderly people. Research currently being developed is the intervention by artificial intelligence, and support of the elderly by the information equipment remote control system. Results of their research group can be viewed at the following address.
E-mail: sawami@naramed-u.ac.jp
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