Dementia Awareness Week: Could robots help to support care in Scotland in the future?
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This Dementia Awareness Week we have taken a closer look at the ground-breaking studies led by academics at Edinburgh Napier University which are considering ways that robots could be used to enhance rehabilitation outcomes for those living with dementia.
Some of the work of the Healthcare Technologies Research Group a multi-disciplinary interprofessional group within the School of Health and Social Care, led by Professor Alison Porter-Armstrong, is looking at the use of multifunctional robots in occupational therapy: robots that can provide multiple services including interactive conversations, therapy support, and telecommunication. Another valuable study, called ‘Future Ready Graduates’, is exploring the views of students in using robots that allow remote presence and interaction to carry out environmental risk assessments.
“You have a tremendous responsibility to ensure that you do the very best you possibly can with that information to really make a positive difference for the future,” says Dr Fiona Maclean, Head of Subject Allied Health and Social Care Sciences and Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy, who’s involved in the research.
“The research that we’re doing is really important, to think about how working with people living with dementia and their caregivers may evolve for the future, but equally how our graduates can be future-ready in terms of the technologies that are coming on down the track so that Edinburgh Napier University graduates are well positioned to be able to embrace and harness those technologies.
“We want our students to feel confident, knowledgeable and skilled because we’ve introduced them to that type of technology here at university before they step out into the graduate workforce.
“I hope that we’re making a positive difference through the [robotics] study, in terms of the positive difference to practice, but also through the Future Ready Graduate study, towards a positive difference we can make to therapy in practice about how therapists think about and embrace technology.”
‘Creating research that's meaningful for people living with dementia’
The first study, entitled Co-creating The future: The Use of Multifunctional Robots in Occupational Therapy and Dementia, looks at the emerging topic of the integration of robotics in rehabilitation and dementia and aims to capture views on the potential use of robots to enhance outcomes for people living with dementia.
It’s five months into a two-year timeframe, thanks to funding from the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, and made up of healthcare researchers alongside partners from the National Robotarium, Alzheimer Scotland, the Scottish Dementia Working Group (SDWG), the National Dementia Carers Action Network (NDCAN) and NHS Forth Valley.
This means that the steering group includes people with lived experience of dementia, something Fiona says was key: “At Edinburgh Napier University, and in occupational therapy specifically, we are trying to create research that’s meaningful for people living with dementia.”
A previous review of literature on this topic found that “although there is some research out there that looks at how you may be able to adopt robotic technology into the area of dementia, there isn’t an awful lot that actually asks people living with dementia, ‘what do you think?’
“So what we’re trying to do with our research is to co-create, in partnership with therapists in practice and people living with dementia, plus their caregivers, how they think we might be able to adopt this technology so that we can produce authentic outcomes that can be meaningful for people living with dementia.”
Preparing students for a changing world
The second piece of research considers how to prepare Edinburgh Napier University students for the modern world that awaits them when they graduate. “Future Ready Graduates: Integrating Telepresence Robots and 3D Mapping as a Method of Teaching Environmental Risk Assessment in Occupational Therapy and Dementia Education” explores the views of Masters students on using remotely operated robots to carry out environmental risk assessments, in comparison to traditional in-person assessments for people living with dementia.
“We’re very conscious that our graduates at Edinburgh Napier University are going to step out into a really changing world as far as technology is concerned,” explains Fiona.
“Using our Simulation and Clinical Skills Centre here at Edinburgh Napier University, we’re asking our students to undertake a simulated environmental risk assessment as to the safety and needs of a fictional person living with dementia on their return home from hospital.”
Initial analysis has revealed a varied range of views, with some students feeling in-person visits can’t be replaced while others saw the benefits of telepresence for rural visits; the advantages of making occupational therapy more inclusive for some as a result was also noted. But the lack of sensory input was a challenge for some, who might look for signs of food going mouldy or a lack of cleaning. These nuanced insights are helping shape how the technology could be implemented in real-world practice.
Once the results are published, Fiona is hopeful it could act as a catalyst for further funding to replicate the study with practising occupational therapists.
‘Evolving practice to meet future needs’
“We know that there are financial pressures on all services at the moment, so how can we do more with at best existing resources and resources that may even potentially decrease?
“These new and innovative ways of working can allow us not necessarily to do less, but to do things differently supported by technology,” says Fiona, who says it’s vital that if we're going to harness technology, “then it needs to be technology that's bespoke to the needs of the person living with dementia”.
“If you’ve met one person living with dementia, then you’ve met one person living with dementia. And at the moment, we’re not necessarily very good at thinking about how we can take this technology and translate it from clean laboratory settings into complex environments.
“It’s one thing navigating a robot on a tiled or lino floor, but what our students were having to do was navigate a robot on our carpet with cushions, with spilled medication, or with chairs in the way.
“One of the things that we’re really interested in is how we can use technology to enhance services and to do that whilst privileging the voice of people living with dementia so we don't lose their expertise in helping us to ensure that we tailor technology to the needs of the person.”
Professor Porter-Armstrong concludes: “We have a very unique opportunity in Scotland to grow the work of our group, and align our research outcomes with Scottish Government Policy to provide answers as to how we can embrace technology to transform service delivery and provide more effective and efficient care for healthcare users.”
To find out more about the work of the Healthcare Technologies Research Group at Edinburgh Napier University, visit this link.
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