3 research outputs found
Robotising Psychometrics: Validating Wellbeing Assessment Tools in Child-Robot Interactions
The interdisciplinary nature of Child-Robot Interaction (CRI) fosters
incorporating measures and methodologies from many established domains.
However, when employing CRI approaches to sensitive avenues of health and
wellbeing, caution is critical in adapting metrics to retain their safety
standards and ensure accurate utilisation. In this work, we conducted a
secondary analysis to previous empirical work, investigating the reliability
and construct validity of established psychological questionnaires such as the
Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) and three subscales (generalised
anxiety, panic and low mood) of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale
(RCADS) within a CRI setting for the assessment of mental wellbeing. Through
confirmatory principal component analysis, we have observed that these measures
are reliable and valid in the context of CRI. Furthermore, our analysis
revealed that scales communicated by a robot demonstrated a better fit than
when self-reported, underscoring the efficiency and effectiveness of
robot-mediated psychological assessments in these settings. Nevertheless, we
have also observed variations in item contributions to the main factor,
suggesting potential areas of examination and revision (e.g., relating to
physiological changes, inactivity and cognitive demands) when used in CRI.
Findings from this work highlight the importance of verifying the reliability
and validity of standardised metrics and assessment tools when employed in CRI
settings, thus, aiming to avoid any misinterpretations and misrepresentations
Mutual shaping in the design of socially assistive robots: A case study on social robots for therapy
This paper offers a case study in undertaking a mutual shaping approach to the design of socially assistive robots. We consider the use of social robots in therapy, and we present our results regarding this application, but the approach is generalisable. Our methodology combines elements of user-centered and participatory design with a focus on mutual learning. We present it in full alongside a more general guide for application to other areas. This approach led to valuable results concerning mutual shaping effects and societal factors regarding the use of such robots early in the design process. We also measured a significant shift in participant robot acceptance pre-/post-study, demonstrating that our approach led to the two-way sharing and shaping of knowledge, ideas and acceptance