Abstract
Current study results on Robotics have been published. According to news reporting originating from Ghent, Belgium, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Due to increasing age and an increasing prevalence rate of neurocognitive disorders such as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and dementia, independent living may become challenging. The use of socially assistive robots (SARs) is one solution that can enable older adults with cognitive impairment to remain independent.” Financial support for this research came from AAL-project ReMIND. Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the University of Ghent, “However, at present, there is a lack of knowledge about the attitudes of older adults with MCI and their caregivers towards SARs. This study relies on a constructivist grounded theory approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain a deeper insight into attitudes of two different stakeholder groups; older adults with MCI and their (in)formal caregivers. Forty individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with older adults with MCI (N = 30) and (in)formal caregivers (N = 10). Data revealed different perspectives on SARs in healthcare for the involved stakeholders. Two main topics could be derived: (1) perspectives on robot assistance, discussing different viewpoints on the potential value of robots as helpers, and (2) perspectives on implementation, revealing different factors that could affect implementation. Both topics may explain a positive, impartial or negative attitude towards SARs. This study identified different factors that should be taken into account when implementing a SAR in the home environment of older adults.”
NETL
NSTL
Taylor & Francis