TY - JOUR
T1 - A social robot to deliver a psychotherapeutic treatment
T2 - qualitative responses by participants in a randomized controlled trial and future design recommendations
AU - Robinson, Nicole L.
AU - Kavanagh, David J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the research assistants who provided support for the initial coding of transcripts and interrater reliability score. Funding: This work was supported by the Australian Postgraduate Award on behalf of the Department of Education and Training and by a Research Grant from the State of Queensland acting through the Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation. The funding bodies had no role in the study design, extraction, analysis or interpretation of the paper, writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication. NLR is a director and shareholder in a robotics company, but that company has no financial interest in, or conflict with, the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - This paper reports the design and qualitative evaluation of a social robot programmed to deliver a talk-based treatment program to improve health behaviour change for food intake and weight loss. A qualitative study was conducted to investigate factors that influenced human-robot interaction and its relationship to health treatment outcomes. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken on completion of a randomised controlled trial that used an autonomous robot to deliver a 4-week behavioral intervention to help coach people to decrease the consumption of high calorie foods. Questions focused on individuals’ preferences, learnings and outcomes from their participation in the trial. Twenty participants completed the treatment, and 18 conducted an interview. Content analysis found that a social robot to deliver a psychotherapeutic treatment was effective and feasible. Participants did make changes to their health behaviour change with a >50% reduction in high calorie intake and average reduction of 4.4 kilograms in weight loss. The robot received positive evaluations on its interactive nature and sociable persona. Most participants made improvements that were aligned with their chosen health goal after completing the robot-delivered sessions, and reported that the robot sessions helped them to achieve their behaviour change goals, such as consuming fewer high calorie foods. Detailed recommendations are provided for the future design of healthcare interventions by robots, including key considerations for robot behaviour, treatment content, and presentation of the program. Future recommendations are presented for the development of robot personalization to more closely resemble techniques and skills from client-centred counselling.
AB - This paper reports the design and qualitative evaluation of a social robot programmed to deliver a talk-based treatment program to improve health behaviour change for food intake and weight loss. A qualitative study was conducted to investigate factors that influenced human-robot interaction and its relationship to health treatment outcomes. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken on completion of a randomised controlled trial that used an autonomous robot to deliver a 4-week behavioral intervention to help coach people to decrease the consumption of high calorie foods. Questions focused on individuals’ preferences, learnings and outcomes from their participation in the trial. Twenty participants completed the treatment, and 18 conducted an interview. Content analysis found that a social robot to deliver a psychotherapeutic treatment was effective and feasible. Participants did make changes to their health behaviour change with a >50% reduction in high calorie intake and average reduction of 4.4 kilograms in weight loss. The robot received positive evaluations on its interactive nature and sociable persona. Most participants made improvements that were aligned with their chosen health goal after completing the robot-delivered sessions, and reported that the robot sessions helped them to achieve their behaviour change goals, such as consuming fewer high calorie foods. Detailed recommendations are provided for the future design of healthcare interventions by robots, including key considerations for robot behaviour, treatment content, and presentation of the program. Future recommendations are presented for the development of robot personalization to more closely resemble techniques and skills from client-centred counselling.
KW - Healthcare
KW - Humanoid Robot
KW - Imagery
KW - Intervention
KW - Motivation
KW - Randomised Controlled Trial
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112520099&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2021.102700
DO - 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2021.102700
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85112520099
SN - 1071-5819
VL - 155
JO - International Journal of Human Computer Studies
JF - International Journal of Human Computer Studies
M1 - 102700
ER -