Centre for Policy on Ageing



Is an entertainment robot useful in the care of elderly people with severe dementia?
Author(s)	Toshiyo Tamura, Satomi Yonemitsu, Akiko Itoh
Journal title	Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 59A, no 1, January 2004
Pages	pp 83-85
Source	http://www.geron.org
Keywords	Dementia ; Therapy ; Information technology ; Rehabilitation ; Occupational therapy ; Japan.
Annotation	An entertainment robot was used as occupational therapy instead of animal-assisted therapy to avoid any danger or injury to the patient and maintain cleanliness. This study compared the effectiveness of a robot animal, AIBO, with a toy. AIBO is made of metal and responds to spoken commands. AIBO was demonstrated to 70 demented older Japanese living in a care home, and their reactions were observed. The most frequent reaction to AIBO consisted of looking at, communicating with, and caring for AIBO. The patients recognised that AIBO was a robot. However, once AIBO was dressed, patients perceived AIBO as a dog or a baby. Nevertheless, the presentation of AIBO resulted in positive outcomes for patients with severe dementia, including increased communication between the patients and AIBO. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-040817202 A
Classmark	EA: LO: UVB: LM: LOH: 7DT
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.