Social robots provide mental health support
Can social robots reduce carers' stress and improve their wellbeing? A recent study by researchers from Cambridge University, ETH Zürich and others provides some very convincing proof that it can!
Emotional distress is a problem that is very common among caregivers. In the process of giving up one’s time to look after loved ones, caregivers regularly experience extreme loneliness. A lack of opportunities to go out, socialise, and create experience of your own will eventually result in a loss of self, of feeling adrift in a mentally bad way. That is a risky situation from a mental health perspective, as a strong sense of self, a thriving social network, and the feeling that you have people who are always there to listen to you are super important tools in your belt to maintain resilience against common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.
A possible solution that is gaining increasing attention from both the academic and start-up communities is to introduce empathetic social robots to carers, so that they can self-disclose at home, free of judgment by others, and without the carer having to worry that their self-disclosure is a further burden on the loved one they’re caring for. A social robot will never complain that they’re being moaned at - at least not if we design them correctly .
Being able to talk about your own feelings, cares, and worries is commonly called self-disclosure, and the act of self-disclosure has time and again been shown to help with emotional self-appraisal, i.e. understanding your own emotions, and what affects your emotions. This self-appraisal takes you half way to emotional self-regulation, where you not only know what you’re feeling and why, but also knowing what you can to make a change. To put yourself in a healthier place, mentally speaking, and taking the actions that make a real difference.
The paper by Dr Guy Laban et al. titled 'Coping with Emotional Distress via Self-Disclosure to Robots: An Intervention with Caregivers, showed incredible results. Over a period of 5 weeks, caregivers interacted with a Pepper robot 10 times and they reported significant improvement over that period of time. Caregivers self-disclosed consistently more with every new interaction, both in duration as well as in the amount of words used. As they interacted with the robot more, they perceived it as having more agency, being more social and competent at listening to them. Participants’ moods improved following interactions with the robot, and they viewed the robot as increasingly comforting. They also reported feeling progressively less lonely and stressed.
Some of the most important findings were that by talking to the social robot, the caregivers reported being less stressed. In addition, carers were more accepting of their situation, more positive self-image, and less blaming of others for their situation. These are three important ingredients to increase your long-term fulfilment and leads to a happier life. Is there anything more important than that?
Of course there were some limitations to the study, but in my view that only makes the findings more exciting. So the carers had 10 scheduled interactions with a Pepper robot over a zoom-like video call. Not having the robot physically there means there are fewer opportunities for interactions, and the scheduled nature of the interactions reduces the ability to create a true bond. In terms of expressiveness, Pepper is super rigid - it cannot make any facial expressions nor any significant social signals with its arms or head. Calling it a bit stiff is an understatement. However, modern social robots don’t have this drawback and thus it is reasonable to assume even better results with a truly empathetic robot like those built by Andromeda, Cartwheel Robotics, or Enchanted Tools.
The secret behind the effectiveness of social robots in providing mental health support may well lie in the fact that they’re non-judgmental, empathetic but non-feeling entities. As the authors of the paper put it: “social robots might just fall at the ideal intersection between being an autonomous … and physically present technology that can capture emotion while also being able to demonstrate social and cognitive cues that might help to respond correctly to those who suffer from emotional distress“
Personally, I’m very excited about what the introduction of how helpful, harmless, and honest social robots can improve our everyday life. Beyond being great listeners, Social Robots are also an excellent interface to deliver all kinds of health tests that are currently conducted using a mobile phone. Given that robots can plan and act themselves, they will be more successful at ensuring that regular tests are completed. And with their wider range of sensors, tests like heart rate and blood pressure can easily be added to cognitive and mental health tests.
All in all, we are in for a bright future of personal health and wellbeing, supported by our social robot helpers!
Are you interested in building your own social robot but don’t know where to start with sensing people’s face and voice data? Get in touch and we can have a chat!