Open AccessThe adoption of socially assistive robots for long-term care: During COVID-19 and in a post-pandemic society
Author(s) -
Cristina Getson,
Goldie Nejat
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
healthcare management forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.418
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 2352-3883
pISSN - 0840-4704
DOI - 10.1177/08404704221106406
Subject(s) - pandemic , robot , covid-19 , health care , long term care , business , telehealth , quality (philosophy) , demographics , perception , telemedicine , term (time) , nursing , public relations , psychology , medicine , computer science , artificial intelligence , political science , sociology , pathology , philosophy , law , epistemology , quantum mechanics , physics , demography , disease , neuroscience , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The rapid spread of COVID-19 has prompted a surge in the adoption of technology, highlighting a number of potential applications for Socially Assistive Robots (SARs). Our entire healthcare system has been under unprecedented strain, and going forward, we must consider how robotic technology could help improve the quality of care and day-to-day functionality of our care facilities. Herein, we present our human-robot interaction study in a local long-term care centre during the pandemic and the lessons learned from deploying a SAR to screen staff members. We investigate staff acceptance and the influence of demographics on perceptions of the SAR. Results show that overall, staff were positive about the screening robot, and that autonomous screening with a social robot is a potential application in long-term care homes. We further detail the challenges and future opportunities to develop SARs, including recommendations to successfully implement and adopt these robots in a post-pandemic society.