Trainum Katie, Liu Jiaying, Hauser Elliott, Xie Bo
School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States.
JMIR Aging. 2024 Sep 16;7:e58629. doi: 10.2196/58629.
Care robots have been proposed in response to nursing shortages in assisted living facilities (ALFs) and the growing population of older adults. While the use of care robots may improve the general health and well-being of older adults, their introduction changes the work of nursing staff fundamentally, and it has implications for the entire health care system. In developing such technology, it is important to include end users, but so far, the nursing staff's perspectives have largely been ignored.
This study aims to examine the literature on nursing staff's attitudes, needs, and preferences related to the use of care robots in ALFs, in order to discover gaps in the literature and guide future research.
This review follows the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 protocol. On May 12, 2023, we searched PubMed, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, PsycINFO, the IEEE Xplore Digital Library, and the ACM Digital Library using predetermined search terms. Included publications, written in English, focused on the predevelopment phase, in which information was gathered on nursing staff's attitudes, needs, and preferences regarding care robots for ALFs. Publications were excluded if they did not provide peer-reviewed empirical data. The studies' findings were summarized, coded, and analyzed into major themes using thematic analysis and narrative synthesis. Their quality was assessed using McGill University's Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool and the Joanna Briggs Institute's critical appraisal tools.
The final sample included 15 studies. Most of the studies (n=11, 73%) were rated as good quality; however, there was a general lack of reporting on important methodological decisions and sample characteristics. Nursing staff desired care robots that could assist with physically demanding tasks and reduce their workload but had mixed feelings on whether robots could or should assist with social tasks. In addition, nursing staff are concerned about the ethics of care robots, as well as about their safety, accessibility, and operability. The nursing staff's culture, qualification, and role in the facility may influence their perspectives of care robots. The studies lacked theory-driven designs and large sample sizes. Eight (53%) studies mentioned using a participatory design approach, but a lack of established criteria for what constitutes participatory design leads to varying degrees of methodological quality.
There was consensus among nursing staff that care robots should serve as nursing assistants to reduce workload. Whether robots could or should assist with social tasks remains a question. Further research is needed to mitigate nursing staff's concerns and understand the socioecological factors that influence their perspectives of care robots and their adoption in ALFs. In addition, theory-driven and large sample size study designs are necessary, as well as work to develop clear criteria for related participatory design research.
针对辅助生活设施（ALF）中护理人员短缺以及老年人口不断增长的情况，护理机器人应运而生。虽然使用护理机器人可能会改善老年人的总体健康状况和幸福感，但其引入从根本上改变了护理人员的工作，并且对整个医疗保健系统都有影响。在开发此类技术时，纳入最终用户很重要，但到目前为止，护理人员的观点在很大程度上被忽视了。
本研究旨在审视关于护理人员对在ALF中使用护理机器人的态度、需求和偏好的文献，以发现文献中的空白并指导未来的研究。
本综述遵循PRISMA（系统评价和Meta分析的首选报告项目）2020协议。2023年5月12日，我们使用预先确定的搜索词在PubMed、CINAHL Plus全文数据库、PsycINFO、IEEE Xplore数字图书馆和ACM数字图书馆中进行了搜索。纳入的英文出版物聚焦于开发前阶段，在此阶段收集了护理人员对ALF护理机器人的态度、需求和偏好方面的信息。如果出版物未提供经过同行评审的实证数据，则将其排除。使用主题分析和叙述性综合对研究结果进行总结、编码并分析为主要主题。使用麦吉尔大学的混合方法评估工具和乔安娜·布里格斯研究所的批判性评估工具对其质量进行评估。
最终样本包括15项研究。大多数研究（n = 11，73%）被评为高质量；然而，在重要方法决策和样本特征的报告方面普遍存在不足。护理人员希望护理机器人能够协助完成体力要求较高的任务并减轻他们的工作量，但对于机器人是否能够或应该协助完成社交任务，他们的看法不一。此外，护理人员担心护理机器人的伦理问题以及它们的安全性、可及性和可操作性。护理人员的文化、资质以及在设施中的角色可能会影响他们对护理机器人的看法。这些研究缺乏理论驱动的设计且样本量较小。八项（53%）研究提到采用参与式设计方法，但对于什么构成参与式设计缺乏既定标准，导致方法质量存在不同程度的差异。
护理人员一致认为护理机器人应作为护理助手以减轻工作量。机器人是否能够或应该协助完成社交任务仍然是一个问题。需要进一步研究以减轻护理人员的担忧，并了解影响他们对护理机器人的看法及其在ALF中应用的社会生态因素。此外，理论驱动和大样本量的研究设计是必要的，同时还需要努力为相关参与式设计研究制定明确的标准。
