Kazue Takayanagi, Takahiro Kirita and Takanori Shibata
Aoi Royal Garden Musashikosugi, Japan
Nippon Medical School, Japan
Iwate Prefectural University, Japan
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
Massachusett
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Neurochem Neuropharm
Introduction: The differences in verbal and emotional responses to a baby seal robot, PARO, of elderly people with dementia residing at an elderly nursing care facility were analyzed. There were two groups: one was with mild/moderate dementia (M-group) in the general ward, and the other was with severe dementia (S-group) in the dementia ward. Method: Each elderly resident interacted with either PARO or a control (stuffed lion) brought by a staff at each resident�s private room. Their responses were recorded on video. Behavioral analysis of the initial 6 min of the interaction was conducted using a time sampling method. Results: In both groups, subjects talked more frequently to PARO than to Lion, showed more positive changes in emotional expression with PARO than with Lion, and laughed more frequently with PARO than with Lion. Subjects in M-group even showed more negative emotional expressions with Lion than with PARO. Furthermore, subjects in S-group showed neutral expression more frequently with Lion than with PARO, suggesting more active interaction with PARO. For subjects in M-group, frequencies of touching and stroking, frequencies of talking to staff member, and frequencies of talking initiated by staff member were significantly higher with Lion than with PARO. Conclusion: The elderly people showed greater interest in PARO than in Lion. The results suggest that introducing PARO may increase willingness of the staff members to communicate and work with elderly people with Dementia, especially those with mild/moderate dementia who express their demand of communication more than those with severe dementia.
Kazue Takayanagi has completed her PhD from Tokushima University, School of Medicine, after completing MD from Kobe University School of Medicine. She was a pediatiric surgeon and changed her career to healthcare administration and then geriatrics. She is the Director of Aoi Royal garden Musashikosugi, the geriatic Centre from the director of Seiwaenn geriatric Center, since April, 2016 and Medical Cooperation Seiwakai, Japan, and also work as a part-time Lecturer of Medical Education Center, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan. She has published more than 30 papers on laughter and has been serving as a Chairperson of Laughter Academy.
Email: takayanagikazue@gmail.com
