Impact of an Emotional Robot on Quality of Working Life of Caregivers in a Geriatric Unit

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Since February 2016, with the objective of improving the quality of life and the autonomy of residents, the Le Mans General Hospital uses an interactive emotional robot within its geriatric wards. This emotional robot, Paro, is equipped with a dozen sensors, 3 microphones and interacts with its user: it reacts to touch, voice and heat making small sounds and moves its head, fins and tail. The algorithm that governs Paro's behavior allows him to offer a behavioral answer adapted to the user's stimuli. Thus, Paro is able to communicate beneficial emotions to patients. To this day however there is no published study exploring the effect of such a robot on team dynamics among caregivers in hospital units. Our research aims at highlighting the benefits that a healthcare team perceives when working with this tool among patients suffering from dementia.

Official Title
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Impact of an Emotional Robot on Quality of Working Life of Caregivers in a Geriatric Unit Specialized in Dementia

Conditions
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Burnout, Professional, Stress, Anxiety

Intervention / Treatment
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* Device: Use of the PARO emotional robot


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Non medical caregiver (nurse, nursing aid, orderly, psychological aid worker) working in one of the selected geriatric wards. Exclusion Criteria: Refusal to participate in the study

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Quasi experimental before-after study, with a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach.
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: PARO emotional robot<br>Quasi-experimental before after study of the impact of the PARO robot on team dynamics among caregivers in geriatric wards caring for patients with dementia. Pre intervention period: no PARO robot. Post-intervention period: with the PARO robot. | Device: Use of the PARO emotional robot<br>* PARO is an advanced interactive therapeutic robot designed to stimulate patients with Dementia, Alzheimer's, and other cognition disorders.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Impact of the PARO robot on the quality of worklife among caregivers in a specialised unit dor dementia patients | Semidirective interviews of the caregivers about their feelings at work, before the introduction of Paro and after 1 month of use. We will use textual analysis software to reveal speech classes to avoid analysis bias and interpretation. | 1 month | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Impact of PARO on the caregivers perception of their own health. | Use of the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP). The NHP consists of two parts. The first part focuses on health and comprises 38 items which deal with pain, energy, sleep, mobility, emotional reaction and social isolation. The second part focuses on life areas affected and consists of 7 items which deal with problems regarding occupation, housework, social life, family life, sexual function, hobbies and holidays. All questions have only yes/no answer options and each section score is weighted. The higher the score, the greater the number and severity of problems. The highest score in any section is 100. | 1 month | 
| Impact of PARO on the caregivers perception of their own stress at work. | Measure of the level of stress using the Perceived Stress Scale: 10 item questionnaire, with responses ranging from 0 to 4 for each item, with a range from 0 to 40, 0 being no perceived stress ans 40 the maximum perceived stress. | 1 month | 
| Impact of PARO on the caregivers perception of their own anxiety at work. | Measure of the perceived anxiety through the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS, a 14 item questionnaire, each item on the questionnaire is scored from 0-3 and this means that a person can score between 0 and 21 for either anxiety or depression, 0 being no perceived anxiety and 21 the maximum perceived anxiety). | 1 month |