Do robots facilitate life review narratives of older adults? A preliminary study
Anna Ueda MHS*, Hideyuki Takahashi PhD, Yuichiro Yoshikawa PhD, Hiroshi Ishiguro PhD, Haruo Nomura PhD
Full text PDF 
( Download count: 8443)
AbstractBackground: Life review is a process in which people retrospect and find meaning in past life events, and synthesize these experiences into a narrative. It is usually conducted collaboratively for older adults through a listening partner who works to motivate and stimulate the conversation.
Objective: This study aimed to compare narratives of older adults with human and non-human listening partners during a life review session and to determine whether the participants felt safer in disclosing their private experiences or thoughts without fear of social judgement.
Method: We conducted life reviews with 5 older adults using 2 types of speaking partners: a human and a robot. The partner asked a set of structured life review questions designed to trigger a review of past events and gave controlled responses. Two life review sequences comprising 4 sessions each were completed; the first 4 were with a human partner, followed by 4 with a robot partner. There was a 4-week interval between the sequences. The transcribed life review conversations were compared and analyzed qualitatively.
Results: When talking with a human partner, life review narratives showed more awareness of generation gaps compared to the narratives formed with the robot. In contrast, their narratives to the robot partner included more universally transmissive values (Watt & Wong, 1991; Wong & Watt, 1991).
Conclusion: This preliminary study was the first attempt to gauge the effects of conducting a life review with robots as partners. The outcome suggests that life review with robots can provide older adults with a unique environment to tell their personal life narratives by allowing them to have different perspectives while reviewing their past. Utilizing both humans and robots in life reviews could help older adults to construct extensive and abundant life narratives in the future.Keywords: robots, life review, older adults, narrative, transmissive values
Anna Ueda MHS*, Hideyuki Takahashi PhD, Yuichiro Yoshikawa PhD, Hiroshi Ishiguro PhD, Haruo Nomura PhD (2021). Do robots facilitate life review narratives of older adults? A preliminary study. Gerontechnology, 20(2), 1-12
https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2021.20.2.28-470.09