Finnish healthcare professionals' attitudes towards robots: Reflections on a population sample

What helps, what hinders?-Focus group findings on barriers and facilitators for mobile service robot use in a psychosocial group therapy for people with dementia

Introduction

Many countries are facing a shortage of healthcare workers. Furthermore, healthcare workers are experiencing many stressors, resulting in psychological issues, impaired health, and increased intentions to leave the workplace. In recent years, different technologies have been implemented to lighten workload on healthcare workers, such as electronic patient files. Robotic solutions are still rather uncommon. To help with acceptance and actual use of robots their functionalities should correspond to the users' needs.

Method

In the pilot study Care4All-Initial, we developed and field-tested applications for a mobile service robot in a psychosocial, multimodal group therapy for people with dementia. To guide the process and assess possible facilitators and barriers, we conducted a reoccurring focus group including people with dementia, therapists, professional caregivers as well as researchers from different disciplines with a user-centered design approach. The focus group suggested and reviewed applications and discussed ethical implications. We recorded the focus group discussions in writing and used content analysis.

Results

The focus group discussed 15 different topics regarding ethical concerns that we used as a framework for the research project: Ethical facilitators were respect for the autonomy of the people with dementia and their proxies regarding participating and data sharing. Furthermore, the robot had to be useful for the therapists and attendees. Ethical barriers were the deception and possible harm of the people with dementia or therapists. The focus group suggested 32 different applications. We implemented 13 applications that centered on the robot interacting with the people with dementia and lightening the workload off the therapists. The implemented applications were facilitated through utilizing existing hard- and software and building on applications. Barriers to implementation were due to hardware, software, or applications not fitting the scope of the project.

Discussion

To prevent barriers of robot employment in a group therapy for people with dementia, the robot's applications have to be developed sufficiently for a flawless and safe use, the use of the robot should not cause irritation or agitation, but rather be meaningful and useful to its users. To facilitate the development sufficient time, money, expertise and planning is essential.

[User-oriented needs assessment of the potential use of assistive robots in direct nursing care: A mixed methods study]

User-oriented needs assessment of the potential use of assistive robots in direct nursing care: A mixed methods study Abstract. Background: So far, hardly any robots have been used in nursing that take over patient-related activities and thereby reduce the physical strain on the caregivers. Using user-centered design approaches, the interdisciplinary project "PfleKoRo" was therefore developing a robotic assistance system that can be used in the direct care of bedridden patients requiring intensive or very intensive care. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify nursing activities with the greatest support potential for an assistant robot for the direct care of bedridden patients. Method: Focus groups (n = 3) with nursing professionals (n = 14) from acute and long-term care were conducted first in an explorative mixed method design and then evaluated by means of content analysis. A selection of nursing activities was then prioritized by the participants of the focus groups (n = 10) with regard to their potential for support from an assistant robot in a standardized survey. Results: The highest priority was given to turning and holding patients in a lateral position as well as holding their legs in order to perform nursing tasks. Further support was needed, among other things, for repositioning the patient to the head of the bed and for tasks such as the transfer of patients. Conclusion: Turning patients and holding them in a lateral position as well as holding the leg are seen as target activities with the greatest support potential for "PfleKoRo", presenting the starting point for further development.

The Care-Dependent are Less Averse to Care Robots: An Empirical Comparison of Attitudes

A growing gap is emerging between the supply of and demand for professional caregivers, not least because of the ever-increasing average age of the world's population. One strategy to address this growing gap in many regions is the use of care robots. Although there have been numerous ethical debates about the use of robots in nursing and elderly care, an important question remains unexamined: how do the potential recipients of such care perceive situations with care robots compared to situations with human caregivers? Using a large-scale experimental vignette study, we investigated people's affective attitudes toward care robots. Specifically, we studied the influence of the caregiver's nature on participants' perceived comfort levels when confronted with different care scenarios in nursing homes. Our results show that the care-robot-related views of actual care recipients (i.e., people who are already affected by care dependency) differ substantially from the views of people who are not affected by care dependency. Those who do not (yet) rely on care placed care robots' value far below that of human caregivers, especially in a service-oriented care scenario. This devaluation was not found among care recipients, whose perceived level of comfort was not influenced by the caregiver's nature. These findings also proved robust when controlled for people's gender, age, and general attitudes toward robots.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12369-023-01003-2.

Uncertainties about accepting care robots

In the midst of the anticipation of care robots renewing elderly care, care workers are expected to orient themselves in this future, however uncertain. To examine how uncertainty over the appropriateness of care-robot use associates with robot acceptance, different scenarios of robot assistance were presented to a sample of care professionals in two waves 2016-2020. The views of usefulness of robot assistance yielded underlying structures of plausible and implausible care-robot use. The perceived appropriateness of utilizing robots in care was stronger in the plausible robot scenarios. The uncertainty about robots having an appropriate role in care work correlated negatively with the perceived usefulness of robot assistance, but was even highlighted among the scenarios of implausible tasks. Findings further show how uncertainties about care-robot use have been reduced across four years between data collections. In robotizing care work processes, it may be more beneficial to attempt to convince the care workers who are undecided about robot acceptance than to push care-robot orientation to those who strongly oppose care-robot use.

Managing changes in the environment of human-robot interaction and welfare services

The purpose of this study was to investigate decision-makers' views on changes that robotics will create in welfare services. The purpose was also to discover what the opportunities and challenges are in human-robot interaction during these changes and how to manage these changes. As a research method, an online survey was used. The survey was sent to Finnish decision-makers (N = 184). They were divided into three groups: Techno-positive (n = 66), Techno-neutral (n = 47), and Techno-critical (n = 71). According to the results, more than 80% of the respondents saw that robots can offer support in existing work tasks, and more than 70% saw that the robots can do existing tasks. The most often mentioned challenges were the reduction of interaction and the reduction of human touch. Further, there are various knowledge needs among the respondents. Most of the knowledge needs were not based on the technical use of the robots; rather, they were quite scattered. The results suggest that successful use and implementation of robots in welfare services require a comprehensive plan and change agents. This study suggests that techno-positive people could act as change agents, assisting in implementing the changes. In addition, to manage change in the welfare services it is essential to improve the quality of the information, solve the resistance to change, create organizational awareness, and understanding, and establish a psychological commitment to change the processes.

Intelligent Physical Robots in Health Care: Systematic Literature Review

BACKGROUND

Intelligent physical robots based on artificial intelligence have been argued to bring about dramatic changes in health care services. Previous research has examined the use of intelligent physical robots in the health care context from different perspectives; however, an overview of the antecedents and consequences of intelligent physical robot use in health care is lacking in the literature.

OBJECTIVE

In this paper, we aimed to provide an overview of the antecedents and consequences of intelligent physical robot use in health care and to propose potential agendas for future research through a systematic literature review.

METHODS

We conducted a systematic literature review on intelligent physical robots in the health care field following the guidelines of PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). Literature searches were conducted in 5 databases (PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, Embase, and CINAHL) in May 2021, focusing on studies using intelligent physical robots for health care purposes. Subsequently, the quality of the included studies was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. We performed an exploratory content analysis and synthesized the findings extracted from the included articles.

RESULTS

A total of 94 research articles were included in the review. Intelligent physical robots, including mechanoid, humanoid, android, and animalistic robots, have been used in hospitals, nursing homes, mental health care centers, laboratories, and patients' homes by both end customers and health care professionals. The antecedents for intelligent physical robot use are categorized into individual-, organization-, and robot-related factors. Intelligent physical robot use in the health care context leads to both non-health-related consequences (emotional outcomes, attitude and evaluation outcomes, and behavioral outcomes) and consequences for (physical, mental, and social) health promotion for individual users. Accordingly, an integrative framework was proposed to obtain an overview of the antecedents and consequences of intelligent physical robot use in the health care context.

CONCLUSIONS

This study contributes to the literature by summarizing current knowledge in the field of intelligent physical robot use in health care, by identifying the antecedents and the consequences of intelligent physical robot use, and by proposing potential future research agendas in the specific area based on the research findings in the literature and the identified knowledge gaps.

Nurse preferences of caring robots: A conjoint experiment to explore most valued robot features

AIM

Due to the COVID pandemic and technological innovation, robots gain increasing role in nursing services. While studies investigated negative attitudes of nurses towards robots, we lack an understanding of nurses' preferences about robot characteristics. Our aim was to explore how key robot features compare when weighed together.

METHODS

Cross-sectional research design based on a conjoint analysis approach. Robot dimensions tested were: (1) communication; (2) look; (3) safety; (4) self-learning ability; and (5) interactive behaviour. Participants were asked to rank robot profile cards from most to least preferred.

RESULTS

In order of importance, robot's ability to learn ranked first followed by behaviour, look, operating safety and communication. Most preferred robot combination was 'robot responds to commands only, looks like a machine, never misses target, runs programme only and behaves friendly'.

CONCLUSIONS

Robot self-learning capacity was least favoured by nurses showing potential fear of robots taking over core nurse competencies.

Health Promotion Practice Among Older Persons: A Nordic Multi-Professional Focus Group Study Exploring what It Is and How It Could be Achieved

The growing ageing population in the Nordic region calls for increased focus on health promotion work. To enhance multi-professional understanding and further develop strategies for promoting healthy ageing, it is vital to consider the perspectives of those working with health promotion. The aim of this study was to explore a wide spectrum of practitioners’ experiences of community-level health promotion targeting older adults in Finland and Sweden. Nine focus group interviews (34 informants) were conducted in 2019–2020. “Seeing the person” emerged as the ideal for health promotion targeting older adults, but this ideal was not always realized in current practice. Barriers related to organizational structures and the practitioner role were identified. However, work methods connected to user involvement and technology-based tools were considered key facilitators, enabling tailored health promotion initiatives.

No thank you to humanized robots: attitudes to care robots in elder care services

The growing older population will increase the demands on the health and welfare systems, including elder care services. One way of meeting these growing service needs is to shift from traditional care services to technologically oriented services. Robotic innovations are gradually being introduced to elder care services. The aim was to explore attitudes toward the use of care robots in elder care services - specifically focusing on situations and interaction, influence, and emotions in interaction with care robots. Data were obtained from visitors at a welfare technology fair (n = 124). The results show that the most negative attitudes concerned if the care robots were humanized and had emotions. The attitudes toward interacting with care robots in general were predominately positive. In conclusion, concrete usage scenarios in elder care services need to be detected, based both on users' needs, digital literacy and on the maturity of the technology itself.

Designing Robots for Elderly from the Perspective of Potential End-Users: A Sociological Approach

The proposed research aims to investigate the problem of age-friendly robot designing from the perspective of the potential end-users. The initial objectives addressed three main issues: how the elderly envision robots and their knowledge on technological development; age-friendly robot design; the elderly's involvement in the robot design process. The empirical material analyzed are the results of in-depth interviews with people aged 70+. A sociological approach is proposed, based mainly on criticism of writing and the analytical and synthetic method. The theoretical framework is the perspective of an ageing society and technogerontology. The sociological approach enables better understanding of the sensitive problems of age-friendly robot designing from the individual point of view. It is concluded with a conceptual discussion on designing robots for the elderly. In particular, it is revealed how these issues could help in shaping social consensus about age-friendly technologies.

Decision-makers’ attitudes toward the use of care robots in welfare services

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of decision-makers toward the use of care robots in welfare services. We investigated their knowledge regarding the use of care robots in welfare services as well as their attitudes toward using robots in their own care and in the care of various user groups, for example, children, youths, and older people. We conducted an online survey with a range of Finnish decision-makers as respondents (N = 176). The respondents were divided into two groups: service actors (n = 104) and research and development (R&D) actors (n = 72). The respondents did not regard themselves as having much knowledge about robotics; however, the results showed that the R&D actors had more overall knowledge of the use of robots than the service actors. The R&D actors were found to be more willing to accept a robot as part of their own care as well as part of the care for various user groups. The contribution of this study is a better understanding of the views of the decision-makers who are or will be in charge of the acquisition of technological devices in welfare services.

Robotizing meaningful work

Purpose

Robots have a history of replacing human labor in undesirable, dirty, dull and dangerous tasks. With robots now emerging in academic and human-centered work, this paper aims to investigate psychological implications of robotizing desirable and socially rewarding work.

Design/methodology/approach

Testing the holistic stress model, this study examines educational professionals’ stress responses as mediators between robotization expectations and future optimism in life. The study uses survey data on 2,434 education professionals.

Findings

Respondents entertaining robotization expectations perceived their work to be less meaningful and reported more burnout symptoms than those with no robotization expectations. Future optimism about life was not affected by robotization expectations alone, but meaninglessness and burnout symptoms mediated the relation between expectations of robotization and future optimism.

Practical implications

Robotization may be viewed as challenging the meaningfulness of educational work by compromising ethical values and interaction. To prevent excess stress among personnel, robotization should be planned together with employees in co-operation negotiations. This implicates the need for co-designing technological changes in organizations especially in the cases of social use of robots.

Originality/value

Work’s meaningfulness in robotization is a novel research topic and a step toward socially sustainable robotization.

Positive Turn in Elder-Care Workers' Views Toward Telecare Robots

Robots have been slowly but steadily introduced to welfare sectors. Our previous observations based on a large-scale survey study on Finnish elder-care workers in 2016 showed that while robots were perceived to be useful in certain telecare tasks, using robots may also prove to be incompatible with the care workers’ personal values. The current study presents the second wave of the survey data from 2020, with the same respondents (N = 190), and shows how these views have changed for the positive, including higher expectations of telecare robotization and decreased concerns over care robots’ compatibility with personal values. In a longitudinal analysis (Phase 1), the positive change in views toward telecare robots was found to be influenced by the care robots’ higher value compatibility. In an additional cross-sectional analysis (Phase 2), focusing on the factors underlying personal values, care robots’ value compatibility was associated with social norms toward care robots, the threat of technological unemployment, and COVID-19 stress. The significance of social norms in robot acceptance came down to more universal ethical standards of care work rather than shared norms in the workplace. COVID-19 stress did not explain the temporal changes in views about robot use in care but had a role in assessments of the compatibility between personal values and care robot use. In conclusion, for care workers to see potential in care robots, the new technology must support ethical standards of care work, such as respectfulness, compassion, and trustworthiness of the nurse–patient interaction. In robotizing care work, personal values are significant predictors of the task values.

A qualitative exploration of care homes workers' views and training needs in relation to the use of socially assistive humanoid robots in their workplace

AIM

The study aimed to explore the views and attitudes of care home workers about the socially assistive robot that was trialled in their workplace, in order to identify training needs in relation to the hypothetical future use of these robots in their workplace.

BACKGROUND

Care home workers face challenging workload conditions which may require the exploration of new solutions such as the use of socially assistive robots (SARs).

METHODS

This is a qualitative descriptive study which used semi-structured interviews. Care home workers (n = 23) in the UK participated in the study, and data collection took place between October 2019 and January 2020. NVivo software was used for data management, and a thematic inductive analysis was conducted.

RESULTS

Findings indicated that many participants were open to the use of robots and valued the potential usefulness of SARs in the care setting. However, some participants showed resistance to the use of robots and did not feel comfortable with the idea of working alongside them. Participants wished to receive technical training that would enable them to be competent in using SARs. Participants took seriously their duty of care to the older people and thus wanted to ensure that the use of the SAR would not negatively impact on the care being provided. Robots were viewed as having potential to be supplementary to human carers, such as sharing the workload and improving upon the care already being provided.

CONCLUSIONS

Care home workers express both positive and negative views in relation to the hypothetical future deployment of socially assistive humanoid robots in their workplace.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The findings highlighted the importance of values around person-centred care which should be taken into account when planning for the implementation of robots in social care settings and training care home workers in how to work with robots.

Perceptions about the Future of Integrating Emerging Technologies into Higher Education—The Case of Robotics with Artificial Intelligence

Emerging technologies (ETs) will most likely have a strong impact on education (starting with higher education), just like they have already had in so many economic and social areas. This paper is based on the results obtained in the project “My Future Colleague Robot”, an initiative that aimed to improve the competence of university teaching staff regarding the introduction of ETs in teaching practices at university level. In this paper, we identified the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that are related to the adoption in higher education of the combination of two ETs: robotics together with artificial intelligence (AI). Additionally, we analyzed the perceptions of university-level teaching staff about the potential of introducing ETs in education. The empirical data presented here were collected using written essays from 18 university teachers and students. Deductive and inductive approaches with thematic analysis were used for the data analysis. The findings support the idea that previous ET-related experience can support positive attitudes and the implementations of ETs in university teaching; in this study, university teachers had optimistic expectations towards ETs, accepting them as part of teaching practice development, while discussion about the negative effects of ETs was negligible.

Exploring a Fuzzy Rule Inferred ConvLSTM for Discovering and Adjusting the Optimal Posture of Patients with a Smart Medical Bed

Several countries nowadays are facing a tough social challenge caused by the aging population. This public health issue continues to impose strain on clinical healthcare, such as the need to prevent terminal patients’ pressure ulcers. Provocative approaches to resolve this issue include health information technology (HIT). In this regard, this paper explores one technological solution based on a smart medical bed (SMB). By integrating a convolutional neural network (CNN) and long-short term memory (LSTM) model, we found this model enhanced performance compared to prior solutions. Further, we provide a fuzzy inferred solution that can control our proposed proprietary automated SMB layout to optimize patients’ posture and mitigate pressure ulcers. Therefore, our proposed SMB can allow autonomous care to be given, helping prevent medical complications when lying down for a long time. Our proposed SMB also helps reduce the burden on primary caregivers in fighting against staff shortages due to public health issues such as the increasing aging population.

Predicted Influences of Artificial Intelligence on the Domains of Nursing: Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to transform the health system, yet little research to date has explored its influence on nurses-the largest group of health professionals. Furthermore, there has been little discussion on how AI will influence the experience of person-centered compassionate care for patients, families, and caregivers.

OBJECTIVE

This review aims to summarize the extant literature on the emerging trends in health technologies powered by AI and their implications on the following domains of nursing: administration, clinical practice, policy, and research. This review summarizes the findings from 3 research questions, examining how these emerging trends might influence the roles and functions of nurses and compassionate nursing care over the next 10 years and beyond.

METHODS

Using an established scoping review methodology, MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central, Education Resources Information Center, Scopus, Web of Science, and ProQuest databases were searched. In addition to the electronic database searches, a targeted website search was performed to access relevant gray literature. Abstracts and full-text studies were independently screened by 2 reviewers using prespecified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Included articles focused on nursing and digital health technologies that incorporate AI. Data were charted using structured forms and narratively summarized.

RESULTS

A total of 131 articles were retrieved from the scoping review for the 3 research questions that were the focus of this manuscript (118 from database sources and 13 from targeted websites). Emerging AI technologies discussed in the review included predictive analytics, smart homes, virtual health care assistants, and robots. The results indicated that AI has already begun to influence nursing roles, workflows, and the nurse-patient relationship. In general, robots are not viewed as replacements for nurses. There is a consensus that health technologies powered by AI may have the potential to enhance nursing practice. Consequently, nurses must proactively define how person-centered compassionate care will be preserved in the age of AI.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses have a shared responsibility to influence decisions related to the integration of AI into the health system and to ensure that this change is introduced in a way that is ethical and aligns with core nursing values such as compassionate care. Furthermore, nurses must advocate for patient and nursing involvement in all aspects of the design, implementation, and evaluation of these technologies.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

RR2-10.2196/17490.

Investigating healthcare practitioners' attitudes towards the COVID-19 outbreak in Saudi Arabia: A general qualitative framework for managing the pandemic

BACKGROUND

Some previous studies have investigated the attitudes of healthcare professionals towards certain aspects of the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, some general frameworks have been proposed to manage the pandemic.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this article was to analyze the attitudes of healthcare practitioners in Saudi Arabia towards the treatment of patients with COVID-19, work planning of practitioners, leadership approaches to manage the pandemic, sharing information strategies, medical errors, compliance with procedures, and challenges faced by the practitioners. Furthermore, another objective was to propose a general framework for managing the COVID-19 outbreak in Saudi Arabia.

METHODS

To achieve these purposes, a survey was designed based on an online questionnaire that was initially sent via WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, and email to 336 healthcare practitioners working in 7 hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The response rate was 30.4%.

RESULTS

The outcomes indicated that healthcare practitioners in Saudi Arabia had positive attitudes towards effective communication and interaction between health professionals and patients, leadership and maintenance of team coordination, work planning, communication and cooperation between team members, training and skills development of healthcare professionals, implementing strict procedures to avoid errors and control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining an adequate supply of medicines and medical equipment, and obtaining the support of the government, the community, and the people.

CONCLUSION

Based on the findings, it was possible to suggest that the management of health care operations related to the COVID-19 outbreak in Saudi Arabia requires effective collaboration and information sharing among various stakeholders. In this sense, communication, effective leadership, coordination and work planning, adequate treatment for patients, strict compliance with hospital rules and procedures, preventive and regulatory measures, and training and support for health professionals, were parameters considered in the general qualitative framework suggested in this study for managing the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. The propositions presented in this study can help the Saudi Arabian government implement an effective plan to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in this country.

Exploring perceptions toward home-care robots for older people in Finland, Ireland, and Japan: A comparative questionnaire study

PURPOSE

To clarify potential users' perceptions toward the development and social implementation of home-care robots in Japan, Ireland, and Finland.

METHODS

Unsigned, self-administered questionnaires were distributed to adults aged 65 or older, family caregivers, and home-care/health and social care professionals (HSCPs). A total of 1004 responses were collected.

RESULTS

In Japan, many people were already familiar with robots in their daily lives. The most notable finding about their perspectives on home-care robots was related to safety. Moreover, 93.7 % of the Japanese respondents said, "If the user cannot decide whether to use a home-care robot, family members who know the user well should decide," followed by 76.4 % in Ireland and 83.1 % in Finland (p < .001). In Ireland, 81.8 % of the respondents said, "I want to help other people and society by participating in the research and development of home-care robots" (Japan: 69.9 %; Finland: 67.5 %) (p = .006). In Finland, many people had a negative impression of robots compared to the other two countries. Finland had the highest percentage (75.4 %) of respondents who said, "Health care professionals should be allowed to use secondary information collected by a home-care robot" (Japan and Ireland: 64 %) (p = .024). Moreover, Ireland and Finland emphasized the need to guarantee the entitlement to receive human care.

CONCLUSIONS

Devising optimal strategies for the development and social implementation of home-care robots by incorporating various perspectives while valuing human dignity will require examination of each country's characteristics with respect to history, culture, policies, and values related to robots.

Significant challenges when introducing care robots in Swedish elder care

Introduction: Care robots are machines, operating partly or completely autonomously, that are intended to assist older people and their caregivers. Care robots are seen as one part of the solution to the aging population, allowing fewer professional caregivers to provide the necessary assistance and care. Despite the potential benefits, the dissemination of care robots, and welfare technology in general, is limited in Swedish elder care.Purpose: To explore the challenges of introducing welfare technology, particularly care robots, in elder care.Materials and methods: Twenty-one individual interviews with key actors at the societal level, analysed by thematic analysis.Results: The challenges, from the societal actors' perspectives, were related to; the beliefs in technology, attitudes, ethics, collaboration, and the need for knowledge and skills regarding care robots (individual and group challenges). Challenges of a national character were: national governance, infrastructure, laws and regulations, economics, and procurement (systemic and societal challenges). In addition, the necessary preconditions for successful introduction were revealed as: the utility of the technology, implementation, evaluation and safety, security, and integrity (preconditional challenges).Conclusions: The introduction of care robots in elder care services seems to be more challenging than that of welfare technology in general, given the context and prevailing attitudes and preconceptions about robotics. Significant challenges need to be managed, at all levels of the society, before care robots can become an integral part of daily care and assist older people and their caregivers in activities and rehabilitation.IMPLICATION FOR REHABILITATIONThe challenges described by the societal actors', are partly similar to those of the end users', in terms of attitudes, ethics, knowledge and skills, and collaboration. This consensus should provide a solid foundation for the conceptualization and introduction of care robots in elderly care.The challenges follow the pattern of an ecosystem involving all sections of society, which are intertwined and require consideration before the expected benefits can be realised.A user-centred approach is necessary to support the design, implementation, and usefulness of care robots and their suitability for meeting the real needs of older persons and professional caregivers.

Care Robot Orientation: What, Who and How? Potential Users’ Perceptions

Exploring the specific field of care robot orientation generates many questions regarding the meaning, content and how it should be conducted. The issue is important due to the general digitalisation and implementation of welfare technology and care robots. The aim of the study was to explore perceptions of care robot orientation from the potential users’ perspective. Data were collected by focus group interviews in Finland, Germany and Sweden. In all three countries, potential user groups were represented: older adults, relatives, professional caregivers and care service managers. A qualitative descriptive method was used for analysing data. The data revealed three aspects of care robot orientation: (1) What care robot orientation is, (2) Who needs it and by Whom it should be given and (3) How it should be performed. The need for care robot orientation is general in society. In the absence of knowledge about care robots, it is nearly impossible to know what to ask for or actually seek information about. Therefore, care robot orientation must be founded on agile implementation planning for care robots, with a firm basis in trustworthy knowledge and information and respecting individuals’ wishes. This also gives rise to an ethical challenge when care robots are offered to people having reduced decision-making ability (dementia, cognitive impairment), along with the issue of who then should make the decision. The mapping of the What, Who/Whom and How aspects of care robot orientation offers a foundation for the creation of orientation models, which might facilitate structured and goal-oriented care robot orientation strategies.

Sustainable Adaptation of New Technology—The Case of Humanoids Used for the Care of Older Adults

Ageing population poses new social, technological, and research challenges. It is anticipated that, by 2080, Poland will be in the group of counties that will have one-third of their population aged over 65. Different strategies aim at dealing with the mentioned demographic challenge, including widespread use of humanoids in the care of older people. As this research was the first of its kind in Poland, this article aims to identify the perceived key benefits that could shape positive attitudes toward humanoids in the care of older people. Based on the specific attributes of a humanoid technology, the model hypothesizes that an attitude toward a technology can be directly shaped by four kinds of perceived benefits, namely an impact on the quality of life, functional aspects, ethical problems, and a social impact. Also, a theoretical model assumes that a user attitude toward a humanoid technology is predicted to have an indirect influence on the future intended use. A survey method was used to collect research data. An electronic questionnaire was used to conduct confidential interviews of Polish citizens. All in all, 643 questionnaires were filled. Results received using structural equation modeling confirmed that the most important factor shaping human attitudes was a perceived social impact received from the use of humanoids in the care of the lonely people and making life more enjoyable for the elderly. Results also confirmed that men had a more positive attitude toward humanoids than women. Among different age groups of respondents, people between 26–40 years of age had the most relatively positive attitude toward humanoids.