We address the problem of designing a conversational avatar capable of a sequence of casual conversations with older adults. Users at risk of loneliness, social anxiety or a sense of ennui may benefit from practicing such conversations in private, at their convenience. We describe an automatic spoken dialogue manager for LISSA, an on-screen virtual agent that can keep older users involved in conversations over several sessions, each lasting 10-20 minutes. The idea behind LISSA is to improve users' communication skills by providing feedback on their non-verbal behavior at certain points in the course of the conversations. In this paper, we analyze the dialogues collected from the first session between LISSA and each of 8 participants. We examine the quality of the conversations by comparing the transcripts with those collected in a WOZ setting. LISSA's contributions to the conversations were judged by research assistants who rated the extent to which the contributions were "natural", "on track", "encouraging", "understanding", "relevant", and "polite". The results show that the automatic dialogue manager was able to handle conversation with the users smoothly and naturally.
@cite_10: In this paper we describe the requirements and early system design for a smart conversational agent that can assist older adults in the reminiscence process. The practice of reminiscence has well documented benefits for the mental, social and emotional well-being of older adults. However, the technology support, valuable in many different ways, is still limited in terms of need of co-located human presence, data collection capabilities, and ability to support sustained engagement, thus missing key opportunities to improve care practices, facilitate social interactions, and bring the reminiscence practice closer to those with less opportunities to engage in co-located sessions with a (trained) companion. We discuss conversational agents and cognitive services as the platform for building the next generation of reminiscence applications, and introduce the concept application of a smart reminiscence agent.
@cite_17: Introduction Animal-assisted therapy is gaining popularity as part of therapeutic activities for older adults in many long-term care facilities. However, concerns about dog bites, allergic responses to pets, disease, and insufficient available resources to care for a real pet have led to many residential care facilities to ban this therapy. There are situations where a substitute artificial companion, such as robotic pet, may serve as a better alternative. Methods This pilot study used a one-group pre- and posttest design to evaluate the effect of a robot-assisted therapy for older adults. Sixteen eligible participants participated in the study and received a group robot-assisted therapy using a seal-like robot pet for 30 minutes twice a week for 4 weeks. All participants received assessments of their communication and interaction skills using the Assessment of Communication and Interaction Skills (ACIS-C) and activity participation using the Activity Participation Scale at baseline and at week 4. Results A total of 12 participants completed the study. Wilcoxon signed rank test showed that participants' communication and interaction skills (z = −2.94, P = 0.003) and activity participation (z = −2.66, P = 0.008) were significantly improved after receiving 4-week robot-assisted therapy. Discussion By interacting with a robot pet, such as Paro, the communication, interaction skills, and activity participation of the older adults can be improved. The robot-assisted therapy can be provided as a routine activity program and has the potential to improve social health of older adults in residential care facilities.
@cite_8: Compared the effects of 2 psychotherapies based on divergent conceptualizations of depression in later life. Seventy-five older adults diagnosed with major depressive disorder were assigned randomly to problem-solving therapy (PST), reminiscence therapy (RT), or a waiting-list control (WLC) condition. Participants in PST and RT were provided with 12 weekly sessions of group treatment. Dependent measures, taken at baseline, posttreatment, and 3-month follow-up, included self-report and observer-based assessments of depressive symptomatology. At posttreatment, both the PST and the RT conditions produced significant reductions in depressive symptoms, compared with the WLC group, and PST participants experienced significantly less depression than RT subjects. Moreover, a significantly greater proportion of participants in PST versus RT demonstrated sufficient positive change to warrant classification of their depression as improved or in remission at the posttreatment and follow-up evaluations. Depression constitutes the most common emotional disorder found in older people (Butler, Lewis, & Sunderland, 1991). Estimates of the prevalence of major depressive disorder in the elderly range from 2 to 10 (Blazer, Hughes, & George, 1987), with milder forms of depression such as dysthymia and dysphoria affecting 20 to 30 of older adults (, 1991). Moreover, the clinical significance of depression in the elderly is underscored by the consistent finding that suicide occurs more frequently in the elderly than in any other age group (Rich, Young, & Fowler, 1986). Recently, a consensus development panel of the National Institutes of Health (NIH; 1992) urged vigorous treatment of depressed elderly with somatic therapies (i.e., drugs, electroconvulsive therapy [ECT], or both); psychosocial therapies were recommended as secondary or supplemental interventions. In justifying these recommendations, members of the NIH panel noted that, in comparison with the substantial research base supportive of somatic therapies (for a review, see Gerson, Plotkin, & Jarvik, 1988), there exists a relative dearth of research
Another approach that has proved effective in ameliorating loneliness and depression in older people is reminiscence therapy @cite_8 . A pilot study aimed at implementing a conversational agent that collects and organizes memories and stories in an engaging manner is reported in @cite_10 . The authors suggest that a successful companionable agent needs to possess not only a model of conversation and of reminiscence, but also generic knowledge about events, habits, values, relationships, etc., to enable it to respond meaningfully to reminiscences. Robotic pets are another interesting technology offered for alleviating loneliness in older people; such pets react to user speech and petting by producing sounds and eye and body movements. Studies @cite_17 show that such interactions can improve users' communication and interaction skills.