Socially Assistive Robots: Measuring Older Adults' Perceptions

To address manpower shortages, health care leaders recommend technology, including robots, to facilitate and augment processes for delivery of efficient, safe care. Little is known regarding older adults' perceptions of socially assistive robots (SARs). Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use Technology framework, a survey was developed and tested for capturing older adults' likelihood to use SARs. The Robot Acceptance Survey (RAS) comprises three subscales: Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, and Attitude. Older adults completed the RAS pre- and post-experimental procedure with a SAR. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the subscales ranged from 0.77 to 0.89. Subscales were sensitive to change, with more positive reactions after exposure to SAR activities. Future studies must identify robotic programming capable of providing cognitive, physical, and social assistance, as well as person-, activity-, situation-, and robot-specific factors that will influence older adults' acceptance of SARs. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 43(12), 35-43.].