With an ageing population, there is an urgent need to lean on technology.
There could be a potential role for robots to support aged care residents living with dementia, says an expert.
Dementia care specialist Prudence Chan has been working closely with aged care providers in Singapore who have been trialing robot prototypes for the past six years.
Ms Chan – also clinical director of the Pacific Rehab Group – told Australian Ageing Agenda the trials were conducted out of necessity. “Singapore is a super-ageing society,” she said. “There’s a lot of seniors, so there is a need to leverage on technology to enhance care delivery”
The pandemic also demonstrated the usefulness of robots in care settings. “Covid-19 has been affecting the amount of social interactions amongst individuals with dementia living in care homes,” Ms Chan said. “Social robots have been deployed to compliment social interaction particularly relevant, in my own opinion, during isolation period of Covid-19 where some of the wards were locked down because of the infection.”
During the trials, Ms Chan identified a particular area of need where robots can help people living with dementia: providing calming social interactions to a person experiencing behaviour and psychological symptoms of dementia – BPSD.
The types of care robots can provide to people with dementia are varied. “You’re looking at meaningful engagement. Typically, individuals with dementia within the care homes some of them are under-engaged and not participating in activities and so forth,” Ms Chan said.
A number of robots have been trialled in Singapore:
KEBBI Air – a Taiwanese-made table-top robot available in a range of character skins that is capable of conversing with people
Paro – a robotic seal that can calm and comfort someone experiencing distress
LOVOT – a Japanese-made social robot that its makers claim, “makes you happy”.
Prudence Chan with LOVOT – image: Singapore University of Social Sciences “These social robots of various prototypes can be deployed to run music sessions and bingo sessions,” Ms Chan said. “So they are able to engage the residents and encourage them to sing along.” Ms Chan told AAA that the majority of aged care residents interacted positively with the robots. “We have been able to elicit responses from them,” she said. During the trials researchers logged participation levels, such as eye contact, smiles and change of mood. “The mood has been generally cheerful,” Ms Chan said.
She added: “Some of the individuals with dementia could have moments where they were depressed and sat at the table not participating at all. These residents – most of them – respond positively and sing and clap.”
Other insights gleaned from the trial include the need to find the right robot for the individual. “From our trials, we realised that there are many, many social robots of various prototypes of different functionalities and features,” Ms Chan said. “The observations we have is we need to nail down the most suitable prototype relevant to the client. If this aspect is not being addressed, very likely, the robot would not be able to be optimally utilised.”
When adopting technology, Ms Chan told AAA there are some areas providers need to consider. “For instance, privacy and also how we manage the data. These are areas that we need to explore further and to contemplate when organisations come on board to use social robots for their clients in the long-term care facility.”
Ms Chan will be discussing other observations gathered from the Singapore trials and technology’s potential to support someone living with dementia when she presents at the International Dementia Conference in Sydney in September 2024. Reference: Singapore trials robots to care for people with dementia - Australian Ageing Agenda https://www.australianageingagenda.com.au/clinical/dementia/singapore-trials-robots-to-care-for-people-with-dementia/
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