A Smart Toy Intervention to Promote Emotion Regulation in Middle Childhood: Feasibility Study

BACKGROUND: A common challenge with existing psycho-social prevention interventions for children is the lack of effective, engaging, and scalable delivery mechanisms, especially beyond in-person therapeutic or school-based contexts. Although digital technology has the potential to address these issues, existing research on technology-enabled interventions for families remains limited. This paper focuses on emotion regulation (ER) as an example of a core protective factor that is commonly targeted by prevention interventions. // OBJECTIVE: The aim of this pilot study was to provide an initial validation of the logic model and feasibility of in situ deployment for a new technology-enabled intervention, designed to support children's in-the-moment ER efforts. The novelty of the proposed approach relies on delivering the intervention through an interactive object (a smart toy) sent home with the child, without any prior training necessary for either the child or their carer. This study examined (1) engagement and acceptability of the toy in the homes during 1-week deployments, and (2) qualitative indicators of ER effects, as reported by parents and children. In total, 10 families (altogether 11 children aged 6-10 years) were recruited from 3 predominantly underprivileged communities in the United Kingdom, as low SES populations have been shown to be particularly at risk for less developed ER competencies. Children were given the prototype, a discovery book, and a simple digital camera to keep at home for 7 to 8 days. Data were gathered through a number of channels: (1) semistructured interviews with parents and children prior to and right after the deployment, (2) photos children took during the deployment, and (3) touch interactions automatically logged by the prototype throughout the deployment. // RESULTS: Across all families, parents and children reported that the smart toy was incorporated into the children's ER practices and engaged with naturally in moments the children wanted to relax or calm down. Data suggested that the children interacted with the toy throughout the deployment, found the experience enjoyable, and all requested to keep the toy longer. Children's emotional connection to the toy appears to have driven this strong engagement. Parents reported satisfaction with and acceptability of the toy. // CONCLUSIONS: This is the first known study on the use of technology-enabled intervention delivery to support ER in situ. The strong engagement, incorporation into children's ER practices, and qualitative indications of effects are promising. Further efficacy research is needed to extend these indicative data by examining the psychological efficacy of the proposed intervention. More broadly, our findings argue for the potential of a technology-enabled shift in how future prevention interventions are designed and delivered: empowering children and parents through child-led, situated interventions, where participants learn through actionable support directly within family life, as opposed to didactic in-person workshops and a subsequent skills application

User-centered design of an interactive social service concept for elderly people

The population is greying rapidly. Technologies are booming to maintain independence and wellbeing of the elderly people. Many designs and researches are particularly focused on physiological and safety needs of the elderly people. Though technologies have capabilities to affect the social aspects of the elderly people in a positive way, there are fewer researches commenced to date. The main purpose of this thesis work is to find out the needs of the elderly people and design appropriate technological solution for the elderly people addressing those needs using User Centered Design Approach. Various data collection methods such as semi-structured thematic interviews, observation and diary method were utilized to collect user needs. Then user data were consolidated using affinity diagram and the needs were classified using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Based on the user studies and the literature review of existing technologies, the need for social technology was figured out and the design phase involved the development of Social TV prototype. The design process was iterative in terms of creating scenarios and storyboards as well as User Environment Design to attain simplicity in design. Then the mid-fidelity prototype of social TV named ElderTV was developed to demonstrate the concept. The evaluation of the prototype was conducted utilizing sociability heuristics for social TV where the designed prototype was compared against each heuristics rules and these rules served as design guidelines during the design phase of the prototype. The resulted social TV concept for elderly people is designed to address elderly peoples’ needs to strengthen the existing social ties. The concept is expected to extend TV viewing activity of the elderly people into shared experience by allowing them to communicate with a circle of friends and families. The prototype is intended to illustrate how elderly people can share feeling of togetherness while watching television and alleviate the loneliness and isolation of the elderly

User-centered design of an interactive social service concept for elderly people

The population is greying rapidly. Technologies are booming to maintain independence and wellbeing of the elderly people. Many designs and researches are particularly focused on physiological and safety needs of the elderly people. Though technologies have capabilities to affect the social aspects of the elderly people in a positive way, there are fewer researches commenced to date. The main purpose of this thesis work is to find out the needs of the elderly people and design appropriate technological solution for the elderly people addressing those needs using User Centered Design Approach. Various data collection methods such as semi-structured thematic interviews, observation and diary method were utilized to collect user needs. Then user data were consolidated using affinity diagram and the needs were classified using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Based on the user studies and the literature review of existing technologies, the need for social technology was figured out and the design phase involved the development of Social TV prototype. The design process was iterative in terms of creating scenarios and storyboards as well as User Environment Design to attain simplicity in design. Then the mid-fidelity prototype of social TV named ElderTV was developed to demonstrate the concept. The evaluation of the prototype was conducted utilizing sociability heuristics for social TV where the designed prototype was compared against each heuristics rules and these rules served as design guidelines during the design phase of the prototype. The resulted social TV concept for elderly people is designed to address elderly peoples’ needs to strengthen the existing social ties. The concept is expected to extend TV viewing activity of the elderly people into shared experience by allowing them to communicate with a circle of friends and families. The prototype is intended to illustrate how elderly people can share feeling of togetherness while watching television and alleviate the loneliness and isolation of the elderly

Sistema de apoyo a la terapia vocal para un robot social

Hoy en día, no es común encontrar terapias robotizadas enfocadas en la apraxia del habla para pacientes con discapacidades motoras relacionadas con la demencia, Alzheimer, o que hayan sufrido un ictus. El objetivo de este proyecto es el desarrollo de un software que pueda integrarse en un robot social para la realización de dichas terapias. Con esto, se pretende conseguir crear una terapia novedosa para el paciente y que requiera un menor grado de atención para el terapeuta, ya que el paciente estará “jugando” con el robot. En este documento se muestra el Trabajo Fin de Grado titulado “Sistema de apoyo a la terapia vocal para un robot social”, realizado en el grupo de investigación RoboticsLab de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, en la Escuela Politécnica Superior de Leganés. En este proyecto haremos uso de un clasificador para determinar qué pose está vocalizando el usuario. Tomamos los datos (imágenes y puntos en 3D) desde un sensor Kinect, que está integrado dentro de la arquitectura del robot Mini. El manejo de los datos provenientes del sensor es realizado por un que nos da 18 puntos con los que se caracteriza la boca del usuario. Dichos puntos se utilizan en la fase de entrenamiento del sistema o para realizar el ejercicio de la terapia. La terapia se realizará utilizando el robot Mini. El robot será capaz de proponer al usuario una pose y corregirle en el caso de que realice mal la pronunciación. Además, aprovechando la capacidad de síntesis de voz del robot Mini, se guiará al usuario durante los ejercicios, o se le felicitará si vocaliza correctamente.Nowadays, there are not many robotic therapies focused on speech apraxia in patients with motor disabilities related dementia, Alzheimer or who have suffered a stroke. The aim of this project is the realization of a software that can be implemented in a social robot in order to perform such therapies. This is intended to create a more pleasant therapy for the patient, which requires a lesser degree of attention to the therapist, as the patient will be " playing" with the robot. This document describes the Bachelor Thesis entitled “Sistema de apoyo a la terapia vocal para un robot social”, made in the research group called RoboticsLab of the Carlos III University of Madrid, in the Polytechnic School in Leganes. In this project we will use a classifier to determine which vowel is the user pronouncing. We take data (images and 3D points) with a Kinect sensor, which is integrated into the architecture of the Mini robot. Management data from the sensor is performed by a node that provides 18 reference points of how the user's mouth is characterized. These points can be used to train the classifier or to exercise therapy. The therapy is carried out with the support of the Mini robot. The robot will be able to offer the user a vowel and correct him. In addition, the robot may indicate the patient to open the mouth more or less, or congratulate if the vocalization is correct.Ingeniería Electrónica Industrial y Automátic

Robots in Nursing - False Rhetoric or Future Reality?: How might robots contribute to hospital nursing in the future? A qualitative study of the perspectives of roboticists and nurses

Introduction. The challenge of the global nursing shortage coupled with a rising healthcare demand prompts consideration of technology as a potential solution. Technology in the form of robots is being developed for healthcare applications but the potential role in nursing has not been researched in the UK. Methods A three-phased qualitative study was undertaken: interviews with 5 robotic developers (Phase 1); nine focus groups /interviews with 25 hospital Registered Nurses (RN) in Phase 2, and 12 nurse leaders in four focus groups (Phase 3). Data was analysed using framework analysis for Phase 1 and reflexive thematic analysis for Phase 2 and 3 data based on the Fundamentals of Care framework. Results Roboticist interviews confirmed that a taxonomy of potential robotic automation was a useful tool for discussing the role of robots. In Phase 2, RNs described activities that robots might undertake and commented on those which they should not. RNs more readily agreed that robots could assist with physical activities than relational activities. Six potential roles that robots might undertake in future nursing practice were identified from the data and which have been labelled as advanced machine, social companion, responsive runner, helpful co-worker, proxy nurse bot, and feared substitute. Three cross-cutting themes were identified: • a fear of the future; • a negotiated reality and • a positive opportunity. In phase 3, nurse leaders considered the RN results and four themes were identified from their discussions: • First impressions of robot in nursing; • The essence of nursing; • We must do something and • Reframing the future. Conclusions Robots will be a future reality in nursing, playing an assistive role. Nursing must become technically proficient and engage with the development and testing of robots. Nurse leaders must lead policy development and reframe the narrative from substitution to assistance. A number of navigational tools have been developed including a taxonomy of nursing automation and the six robotic roles which may be useful to inform future debate in nursing

Understanding informal caregivers' use of assistive technologies in Mexico during their dementia caregiver experience

Dementia is a long-term progressive condition with no cure that is considered to be a major public health priority worldwide. Currently, 60% of people with dementia (PwD) reside in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and by 2040 the number will increase to 71%. Families from these countries are being overwhelmed by the increased numbers of cases as the depleted health infrastructures and lack of governmental support mean that families have to rely on informal caregivers (ICs) to provide essential support and care. By 2050, Latin American countries, such as Mexico and Brazil, will experience an increase of >400% in the number of dementia cases. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated in 2017 as part of their “Global action plan on public health response to dementia” that culture- and community-specific approaches need to be developed and implemented in LMICs. They argued that this need emerged from the results of various studies on LMICs that showed how each country interpreted dementia differently. Cultural interpretations have been shown to influence the dementia caregiving experience directly. However, only few studies have been conducted about ICs of PWDs from LMICs. Hence, the need to understand the complexities of the dementia caregiver’s experiences within LMICs. In-home technologies, such as Assistive Technologies (ATs), have been shown to be effective in dementia care to improve the quality of life of the PwD and alleviate the IC’s caregiver burden. However, only a few studies have evaluated the usefulness of ATs in LMICs and no research has been conducted on the experiences of ICs with ATs in LMICs. This thesis explores the lived experiences of ICs of PwD in Mexico, a country in which ATs are used as part of their caregiving role. The study adopted a phenomenological approach, the aim of which was to understand the role and impact of ATs in the caregiving role and caregiving experience. Nine ICs of PwD in Mexico participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in two parts: an idiographic analysis of the first-person accounts of each participant and a cross-case analysis that examined the convergences and divergences of their experiences across the group. The findings from the study revealed that, to a certain extent, all of the participants went through five stages during their lived experiences as caregivers. The ICs subconsciously divided the lengthy path of their caregiving experiences into two phases: pre-AT usage and AT usage. The stages were established as: 1) emotional triggers; 2) avoidance; 3) personal values assessment; 4) self-forgiveness; and 5) acceptance (i.e., of the disease). During the pre-AT usage phase (stages 1-4), participants attributed a combination of different negative feelings and double caring responsibilities as the factors that motivated them to acquire an AT and care for their own well-being, as well as that of the PwD. It was revealed during the second stage, the AT usage phase (stages 4-5), that the ICs’ interactions with ATs were complex. On the one hand, the participants concentrated on testing, accepting and appropriating the AT to fit their own needs. On the other hand, it was revealed that ATs mediated the experience and, as a consequence, influenced the ICs’ roles and caregiver experiences. This thesis provides a new, and in-depth, understanding of some of the complexities that derive from the dementia caregiver’s experience in Mexico, an LMIC. It also provides an insight into the human-technology relationship that develops from daily interactions with the AT and how it influences the essence of the caregiver experience. Recommendations are made for designers and developers of ATs for use in the care of PwD based on the findings from this study