None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
With the substantial increase of dementia in older adults, robot-assisted intervention using Paro would be a potential alternative intervention for older people with dementia in reducing BPSD, improving moods as well as encouraging social interaction and communication, therefore improving patients’ quality of life and reducing caregivers, nursing / healthcare worker loads. The information obtained will promote the awareness to health professionals that robot-assisted therapy using Paro is a useful behavior intervention in older people with dementia and could be incorporated as part of BPSD management programs amongst the elderly in both community care and hospital settings in Hong Kong.
Interventions
Subjects assigned to the intervention group will be invited to participate in the robot-assisted intervention once a week over an 8 week period (max: 30 minutes per session) provided by a trained research assistant/occupational therapist who is familiar with the Paro user manual. The Paro intervention will generally involve six stages/themes (Introduction of Paro, Baby-sitting Paro, Grooming Paro, Feeding Paro, Making over Paro, and Wardrobe Paro), but subjects are also free to interact with Par
Subjects assigned to the intervention group will be invited to participate in the robot-assisted intervention once a week over an 8 week period (max: 30 minutes per session) provided by a trained research assistant/occupational therapist who is familiar with the Paro user manual. The Paro intervention will generally involve six stages/themes (Introduction of Paro, Baby-sitting Paro, Grooming Paro, Feeding Paro, Making over Paro, and Wardrobe Paro), but subjects are also free to interact with Paro whenever they wish.
Sponsors
Ruby Yu
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
60 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Community-living older adults aged 60 years and above will be screened using the Mini-Mental State Examination (CMMSE). Those who score between 5 and 15 with a diagnosis of dementia according to the criteria based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) will be screened for eligibility to the study. Severity of dementia will be determined using Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). Subjects with CDR greater than or equal to 2 will be further assessed for the presence and severity of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) using Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI). To be clinically significant, those who exhibit any BPSD (have at least one documented behaviours occur at least once per week at a moderate severity level as defined on the NPI) will be invited to participate.
Exclusion criteria
Subjects will be excluded if they have medical conditions severe enough to affect the patient’s ability to complete the treatment course and/or follow-up.
Outcome results
None listed