A Robot-Mediated Activity Using the Nao Robot to Promote COVID-19 Precautionary Measures among Older Adults in Geriatric Facilities

Ethical risks in robot health education: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

As health education robots may potentially become a significant support force in nursing practice in the future, it is imperative to adhere to the European Union's concept of "Responsible Research and Innovation" (RRI) and deeply reflect on the ethical risks hidden in the process of intelligent robotic health education.

AIM

This study explores the perceptions of professional nursing professionals regarding the potential ethical risks associated with the clinical practice of intelligent robotic health education.

RESEARCH DESIGN

This study adopts a descriptive phenomenological approach, employing Colaizzi's seven-step method for data analysis.

PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 nursing professionals from tertiary comprehensive hospitals in China.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Provincial Second Chinese Medicine Hospital.

FINDINGS

Nursing personnel, adhering to the principles of RRI and the concept of "person-centered" care, have critically reflected on the potential ethical risks inherent in robotic health education. This reflection has primarily identified six themes: (a) threats to human dignity, (b) concerns about patient safety, (c) apprehensions about privacy disclosure, (d) worries about implicit burdens, (e) concerns about responsibility attribution, and (f) expectations for social support.

CONCLUSIONS

This study focuses on health education robots, which are perceived to have minimal ethical risks, and provides rich and detailed insights into the ethical risks associated with robotic health education. Even seemingly safe health education robots elicit significant concerns among professionals regarding their safety and ethics in clinical practice. As we move forward, it is essential to remain attentive to the potential negative impacts of robots and actively address them.

e-VITA study protocol: EU-Japan virtual coach for smart aging

Aim

The aim of this study is to report a trial protocol for assessing the improvement of older adults' well-being, promoting active and healthy aging, and reducing the risks of social exclusion, using a virtual coach.

Background

Increased longevity brings with it reduced autonomy and independence, and it is therefore necessary to act with preventive measures that can promote active and healthy aging. With the development of technology, new tools have appeared, including virtual coaches, which can enable people to lead a healthy lifestyle by identifying individual needs and goals and providing personalized recommendations and advice. However, it is important that these coaches take into consideration the inter-individual and cross-cultural differences of each person.

Design

A randomized controlled trial is proposed.

Methods

This study will recruit 240 healthy subjects aged 65 years and older. Participants will be assigned to an experimental group that will receive the e-VITA system or to the control group that will receive an information booklet only. The primary outcome measure is the person's quality of life (QoL). Data will be collected at baseline, 3 months after the trial, and at the end of the trial, after 6 months.

Discussion

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of the e-VITA system, consisting of a virtual coach, several sensors for monitoring, a smartphone for use at home, and a booklet, in improving the older person's quality of life. The increased perceived well-being will also be linked to improvements in other areas of the person's life, psychological and cognitive status, the area of sociality, nutrition, and eHealth literacy.

Talking about Sexuality in Stroke Individuals: The New Era of Sexual Rehabilitation

One of the largest causes of mortality and disability worldwide is stroke. In the last twenty years significant objectives have been achieved in the early and chronic treatment of motor and cognitive dysfunctions, increasing the quality of life in patients and their caregivers. However, there is an unresolved clinical issue that remains: sexual dysfunctions. Multiple etiologies, including organic (such as lesion localization, premorbid medical problems, and drugs) and psychosocial (such as fear of recurrences, loss of self-esteem, role shifts, anxiety, and depression), are associated with sexual deficits. In this perspective review, we reported the last piece of evidence about this crucial topic which drastically affects the quality of life of these patients. Indeed, although patients may often not disclose their sexual concerns, literature demonstrates that they seek help concerning this issue. On the other side, clinicians working in the rehabilitation field are not always comfortable or prepared to deal with sexuality and sexual function in neurological patients. A new phase of the training course should be launched including different physicians, nurses, rehabilitation specialists, and social workers, to learn how to deal with topics related to sexuality. As a result, professional sexual counselors should now become a structured part of stroke settings and rehabilitation with new effective tools (i.e., PLISSIT model; TDF program) for improving quality of life.

Older Adults and New Technology: Mapping Review of the Factors Associated With Older Adults' Intention to Adopt Digital Technologies

BACKGROUND

Ongoing advancements in digital solutions support older adults' healthy aging and well-being. However, a unified synthesis of sociodemographic, cognitive, attitudinal, emotional, and environmental factors that influence older adults' intention to use these new digital technologies is still lacking. Understanding the salient factors that influence older adults' intention to use digital technologies will help to ensure that technology is developed appropriately and contextually. This understanding is also likely to contribute to developing technology acceptance models specifically for the aging generation, by reorganizing principles and constructing objectivity criteria for future research studies.

OBJECTIVE

This review aims to identify the key factors associated with older adults' intention to use digital technologies and to provide a comprehensive conceptual framework to describe the relationships between these key factors and older adults' intention to use digital technologies.

METHODS

A mapping review was conducted using 9 databases from inception to November 2022. Articles were selected for review if they had an evaluative component of older adults' intention to use digital technologies. Three researchers independently reviewed the articles and extracted the data. Data synthesis was performed via narrative review and quality appraisal was measured using 3 different tools based on each article's study design.

RESULTS

We identified a total of 59 articles investigating older adults' intention to use digital technologies. The majority (40/59, 68%) of articles did not use an existing framework or model for technology acceptance. Studies mostly adopted a quantitative research design (27/59, 46%). We found 119 unique factors reported to influence older adults' intention to use digital technologies. These were categorized into 6 distinct themes: Demographics and Health Status, Emotional Awareness and Needs, Knowledge and Perception, Motivation, Social Influencers, and Technology Functional Features.

CONCLUSIONS

Given the importance of global demographic change toward an aging society, there is surprisingly limited research on the factors that influence older adults' intention to use digital technologies. Our identification of the key factors across different types of digital technology and models supports the future integration of a comprehensive perspective encompassing environmental, psychological, and social determinants for older adults' intention to use digital technologies.