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http://hdl.handle.net/10397/106711
Title: | Identifying preferred appearance and functional requirements of aged care robots among older Chinese immigrants : cross-sectional study | Authors: | Chiu, CJ Lo, YH Montayre, J Abu-Odah, H Chen, ML Zhao, IY |
Issue Date: | 2023 | Source: | JMIR aging, 2023, v. 6, e48646 | Abstract: | Background: Older Chinese immigrants constitute the largest older Asian ethnic population in New Zealand. Aging in a foreign land can be complex, presenting increasing challenges for gerontology scholars, practitioners, and policy makers. Older Chinese immigrants are more susceptible to experiencing loneliness and social isolation compared to native older people, primarily due to language, transportation, and cultural barriers. These factors subsequently impact their physical and mental health. With advancements in robotic technology, aged care robots are being applied to support older people with their daily living needs. However, studies on using robots with older immigrants living in the community are sparse. Their preferences for the appearance and function of aged care robots are unclear, which impacts the acceptance and usability of robots, highlighting the need for a user-centered design approach. Objective: This study aims to explore older Chinese immigrants’ needs and preferences toward the appearance and function of aged care robots and to examine their relationships with the demographic characteristics of participants. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used in this study, which was undertaken between March and May 2020. A total of 103 participants completed a web-based survey. Results: The average age of participants was 68.7 (SD 5.5) years. The results suggest that 41.7% (n=43) of the 103 participants preferred a humanlike adult appearance, while 32% (n=33) suggested an animallike appearance. These participants reported higher scores in both rigorousness and friendliness compared to others who preferred different robot appearances. Participants expressed a greater preference for the functions of housework assistance (n=86, 83.5%), language translation (n=79, 76.7%), health monitoring (n=78, 75.7%), facial expressions (n=77, 74.8%), news reading (n=66, 64.1%), and security monitoring (n=65, 63.1%). These preferences were found to be significantly associated with marital status, financial status, and duration of immigration. Conclusions: To support immigrant populations to age well in a foreign country and address the growing shortage of health and social professionals, it is important to develop reliable robotic technology services that are tailored based on the needs and preferences of individuals. We collected and compared the perspectives of immigrant and nonimmigrant participants on using robots to support aging in place. The results on users’ needs and preferences inform robotic technology services, indicating a need to prioritize older Chinese immigrants’ preference toward aged care robots that perform housework assistance, language translation, and health and safety monitoring, and robots with humanlike features. |
Keywords: | Aged care Aging Aging in place Appearance Asian Asian population Chinese Companion Companionship Cross sectional Cross-sectional Elderly Function Healthy aging Immigrant Isolation Older adults Population Population studies Preference Robot Robotic Robotic technology services Robotics Robots Social Survey |
Publisher: | JMIR Publications, Inc. | Journal: | JMIR aging | EISSN: | 2561-7605 | DOI: | 10.2196/48646 | Rights: | © Ching-Ju Chiu, Yi-Hsuan Lo, Jed Montayre, Hammoda Abu-Odah, Mei-Lan Chen, Ivy Yan Zhao. Originally published in JMIR Aging (https://aging.jmir.org), 8.11.2023. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Aging, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://aging.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. The following publication Chiu CJ, Lo YH, Montayre J, Abu-Odah H, Chen ML, Zhao IY. Identifying Preferred Appearance and Functional Requirements of Aged Care Robots Among Older Chinese Immigrants: Cross-Sectional Study. JMIR Aging 2023;6:e48646 is available at https://doi.org/10.2196/48646. |
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aging-2023-1-e48646.pdf | 1.85 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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