Wangmo Tenzin, Tian Yi Jiao Angelina, Roulet Schwab Delphine, Meyer Andrea H
Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
La Source, School of Nursing Sciences, HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Innov Aging. 2025 Jun 17;9(6):igaf051. doi: 10.1093/geroni/igaf051. eCollection 2025.
Robotic technologies will likely be part of the caregiving needs for older adults in the future. In this study, we assessed the acceptance of several robotic functions among a representative sample of adults in Switzerland and tested (a) the acceptance of different robotic functions, and (b) explored how different sets of predictors explained variance in the acceptance of 2 robotic functions: (a) "robots for assistive support" and (b) "robots for companionship."
A survey was administered to a randomly selected group of adults from the 3 official linguistic regions of Switzerland using computer-aided-telephone-interviews. Data obtained were weighted for the Swiss adult population and analyzed using descriptive statistics, multilevel modeling, and sequential regression analysis.
A total of 1,211 adults responded to the survey. Acceptance was higher for using "robots for assistive support" than "robots for companionship," with no significant statistical difference between linguistic regions. Usefulness of robotic functions in reducing caregiving stress explained the most variance in our model for both outcome variables. External predictors such as the fear of robots and the fear that robots will replace human care explained the least amount of variance.
When robots are used in the care of older adults, user adoption is likely to be positive when the end-users (older persons and their caregivers) perceive that their use meaningfully reduces caregiving stress. More research is needed to further test the role of external factors for technology adoption, especially those that touch the notion of human contact.
机器人技术未来可能会成为老年人护理需求的一部分。在本研究中，我们评估了瑞士具有代表性的成年人样本对几种机器人功能的接受度，并测试了（a）不同机器人功能的接受度，以及（b）探讨了不同的预测因素集如何解释两种机器人功能接受度的差异：（a）“辅助支持机器人”和（b）“陪伴机器人”。
通过计算机辅助电话访谈，对从瑞士三个官方语言区随机抽取的一组成年人进行了调查。所获数据根据瑞士成年人口进行加权处理，并使用描述性统计、多层次建模和逐步回归分析进行分析。
共有1211名成年人对调查做出了回应。使用“辅助支持机器人”的接受度高于“陪伴机器人”，各语言区之间无显著统计学差异。机器人功能在减轻护理压力方面的有用性在我们针对两个结果变量的模型中解释了最大的差异。诸如对机器人的恐惧以及担心机器人会取代人类护理等外部预测因素解释的差异量最少。
当机器人用于老年人护理时，如果最终用户（老年人及其护理人员）认为其使用能有效减轻护理压力，那么用户采用率可能会很高。需要更多研究来进一步测试外部因素在技术采用中的作用，尤其是那些涉及人际接触概念的因素。
