"Experience of Healthcare Workers who Used AI Therapy Robot PARO During" by Ricco Nancy Julia

Date of Conferral

1-29-2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Megan Corley

Abstract

Healthcare worker burnout and the need for systemic changes in the healthcare field have been researched and discussed for decades. Traditional ways to support these workers’ psychological wellness have not been effective, such that healthcare workers continue to be reluctant to seek help due to stigma and risk of losing their licenses. Researchers have stressed the need for drastic changes in the healthcare field at the administrative level to the resources healthcare workers can use, involving advanced technologies. This initial hermeneutic phenomenology exploratory study was to explore the experiences of healthcare workers who used PARO, a baby seal designed AI robot, during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to know more about the idea of using innovative, personalized technology for healthcare worker burnout symptoms. This study interpreted and analyzed interview data of two participants from Japan through the lens of existential psychotherapy concepts utilizing hermeneutic phenomenology. Due to a challenging participant search, the study could not confirm data saturation; still, the limited data revealed that participants’ experiences were much like owning a live animal pet without the burdens of real animals, and they had unique emotionally supportive experiences and gained energy and purpose. The study also revealed that the concept of using animal robots for emotional care, as well as the design of the robot, socially impacted, but the concept itself continued to evolve. The effectiveness of using PARO in a healthcare work environment for an intervention should be explored more. Recommendations for future study include the need to be more innovative in finding research participants and using an additional conceptual framework to address technology use in the same study.

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