The Future of Robotic Pet Therapy in Healthcare

Over the past few years, major transformation has been seen in the healthcare segment due to increasing Innovation and creativity in this particular segment. Robotic pet therapy has become emerging concept in the Healthcare segment (Maalouf, et al., 2018).

This is an animal based therapy that has been introduced for addressing the imaging health problem as well as mental deserted related concerns in the Global context (Tan & Taeihagh, 2020). In this research paper, the emerging mental health issue has been highlighted as major concern across the globe and in order to improve the situation the contradiction on the effectiveness of animal based therapy has been highlighted as the major topic area in this research paper.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the future of robotic pet in the long run care. Utilizing different secondary evidences, the study has focused on representing comparative analysis on the topic area. The study is expected to enhance the knowledge of several researchers on the robotic pet therapy and the paper can be used by future researchers as initial framework for the in-depth analysis.

The global complexity has also made major impact on the mental health of people across the globe. In today’s reality, large numbers of people are suffering due to loneliness and dementia (Maalouf et al., 2018). The technological disruption has brought major transformation in the health care segment. Robotic pet is one of the important innovations in this era. The robotic pet mainly aims to provide supportive interaction to the patient. Tan & Taeihagh (2020) opined that it represents the sense of autonomy and focuses towards improving the physical health. The purpose of this innovation is to provide support to the emotional and mental well being to the people. The robotic theory has concentrated towards enriching the daily life of people. Chen, Jones & Moyle (2020) stated that based on the long term as well as low maintenance human robot, the health professionals have tried to improve the living of patients. Scerri, Sammut & Scerri (2021) stated that Considering the history of past care techniques, animals have been considered as the important supportive live creature that can make significant impact on the human mind. Especially concentrating on the aged care, it can be stated that through this particular technique, the people who are suffering due to dementia can be given a better life. It is an effective practical alternative that can help in generating bonding.

Conclusion

According to Chen et al., (2020), the robotic pet therapy makes major impact for reducing the poll dependency among the people. Animal assisted therapy for the older generation makes major impact on the older generation. It is fully controllable because it can be fully turned off (Chen et al., 2020). The use of the robotic pet is quite easy as it does not require any special attention. It helps in continuing the interaction and based on the participative response from the pet, the loneliness of the patient can be reduced. On the other hand, the robotic pet technology can bring long term benefits where therapeutic benefit can be gained (Chen, Jones & Moyle, 2020).  It has real sound as well as moving feature like the real pet, which can make it good companion for the older generation. The robotic pet does not make any kind of mess, which is a great benefit of the product.

Disadvantage of the particular product is, there is a major dissimilarity between this machine and the real pet. In that case the animal assisted therapy process can get interrupted; this can negatively impact on the mental health of the patient (Jung, van der Leij & Kelders, 2017). In this particular therapy the robotic pet can create major interaction during the therapy because if some of the missionary element of the product gets failed, in that case it can be really hard for the therapist to start the session again. Robotic pets are not cost effective and it is also very expensive for most of the people. The lengthy process of charging rather than the activation duration can create disturbance while developing real emotional relationships.

However, contradicting the above statement, some of the researchers believe that instead of robotic pet therapy, the actual pet therapy is more effective because it can show the positive emotional flow between both the parties. However, Scerri, Sammut & Scerri (2021) stated that in case of real pet, the responsibility of taking care of both the parties sometimes become challenging for the aged population especially, who are suffering due to dementia. In this case, the person has tendency to loss memory. In such cases, the real pet therapy can cause danger for that live creature. On the other hand, Wang, Shen & Chen (2021) stated that robotic pet does not require playtime or attention as it has the feature to turnoff. Therefore, the especially designed robotic therapy[y can play an effective role in order to deal people with their anxiety.

Conclusion

In the above finding, critically considering several view points of the researchers, it has been found that animal assisted therapy has become one of the effective solutions against the growing mental health concern in the global market. In the above contradiction, considering several research outcomes, it has become an important concern to understand the suitability of robotic pet solution in the care segment. Considering the viewpoints shared by the researchers, it has been found that along with several disadvantages, the robotic therapy solution can make major impact on reducing anxiety and stress among the older generation. Compared to the real pet, this particular therapy solution has been designed for addressing the emotional and physical needs of the patients who are suffering from dementia. Therefore, it can be assumed that the robotic solution can make long term impact on improving mental health of the patients. 

References

Chen, S. C., Jones, C., & Moyle, W. (2020). Health professional and workers attitudes towards the use of social robots for older adults in long-term care. International Journal of Social Robotics, 12(5), 1135-1147.

Chen, S. C., Moyle, W., Jones, C., & Petsky, H. (2020). A social robot intervention on depression, loneliness, and quality of life for Taiwanese older adults in long-term care. International psychogeriatrics, 32(8), 981-991.

Jung, M. M., van der Leij, L., & Kelders, S. M. (2017). An exploration of the benefits of an animallike robot companion with more advanced touch interaction capabilities for dementia care. Frontiers in ICT, 4, 16.

Maalouf, N., Sidaoui, A., Elhajj, I. H., & Asmar, D. (2018). Robotics in nursing: a scoping review. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 50(6), 590-600.

Scerri, A., Sammut, R., & Scerri, C. (2021). Formal caregivers’ perceptions and experiences of using pet robots for persons living with dementia in long‐term care: A meta‐ethnography. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 77(1), 83-97.

Tan, S. Y., & Taeihagh, A. (2020). Governing the adoption of robotics and autonomous systems in long-term care in Singapore. Policy and society, 1-21.

Wang, X., Shen, J., & Chen, Q. (2021). How PARO can help older people in elderly care facilities: A systematic review of RCT. International Journal of Nursing Knowledge.

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