| Abstrakt: |
Background: Approximately 6.2 million older Americans are living with Alzheimer's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease related dementias (AD/ADRD). Reminiscence therapy (RT) has shown a positive impact on the mood, cognition, communication, and quality of life of people with AD/ADRD (PLWD). Traditional RT is usually delivered by professional facilitators, limiting the accessibility of RT to PLWD. Robotics has the potential to facilitate RT, enabling accessible, home‐based, personalized RT. Method: A prototype of robot‐mediated reminiscence therapy (RMRT) was implemented using a humanoid social robot, Pepper. A multimedia file, including pictures, audio, and video, was created as a source of prompts for memory stimulation. The file consisted of nine topics, including pets, cars, holidays, hobbies, chores, movies, music, sports, and local scenes. In each topic, the robot displayed a memory trigger on the left side of its tablet and engaged in a conversation with PLWD. The robot started the conversation with background information relevant to the memory trigger and then provided appropriate prompts (e.g., questions) to encourage PLWD to talk. The PLWD can control the robot by clicking buttons and using voice input. The prototype RMRT was tested with two female participants (one with mild dementia due to AD, aged 75‐85 and one with mild cognitive impairment, aged above 85). They used the topics, holidays, movies, and music. Questionnaires were used to assess their acceptance and user experience. Result: Both participants reported a positive user experience with the RMRT. The robot was easy to use, its appearance was pleasing, and talking with the robot was relaxing. Participants preferred to control the robot using both the tablet and voice input. One participant suggested that the user icon should match the user's gender. Both participants would like to use the RMRT in the future and would recommend it to others. Conclusion: The two participants had a positive experience interacting with the RMRT and made suggestions for improving its design. Our next step is to address the participants' suggestions for improving the design of the robot and test its usability with a larger sample of PLWD to assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and user experience during RMRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
