Abstract
Apathy, agitation, loneliness and depression are common behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). These symptoms can make life distressing for the person with dementia and can also make it challenging for care staff to meet the needs of the person. In recent years, social robots have been used as a means to reduce BPSD. However, to date, studies have mostly been descriptive or had small samples. This paper presents a cluster-randomized controlled trial with three treatment groups: a robotic animal (PARO), a non-robotic animal (Plush-Toy), and usual care (control). Older people (n=415) with a diagnosis of dementia and living in long-term care participated in the trial. The intervention consisted of three individual 15-min non-facilitated sessions with PARO or Plush-Toy per week for a period of 10 weeks. This allowed both short-term (5-weeks) and long-term follow-up (10-weeks), and sustainability following withdrawal of intervention (15-weeks). Interim analysis found the majority of participants were female (n=314), with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (n=148), a mean age of 84.9 years and a mean CMAI-SF score of 30.13/70. PARO group experienced significantly higher pleasure than control (p<.0005) and Plush Toy (p<.005) at end of treatment. Both verbal (p<.0005) and visual (p<.0005) engagement were also significantly higher in the PARO condition. The majority of participants enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with PARO. This presentation outlines what we have learnt to date about the impact of PARO through the secondary outcomes of interest – sleep duration and activity (step count -Sensewear).