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Social robots in advanced dementia
Valentí Soler M, Agüera-Ortiz L, Olazarán Rodríguez J, Mendoza Rebolledo C, Pérez Muñoz A, Rodríguez Pérez I, Osa Ruiz E, Barrios Sánchez A et al.. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2015-09-03
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Aims Pilot studies applying a humanoid robot (NAO), a pet robot (PARO) and a real animal (DOG) in therapy sessions of patients with dementia in a nursing home and a day care center. Methods In the nursing home, patients were assigned by living units, based on dementia severity, to one of the three parallel therapeutic arms to compare: CONTROL, PARO and NAO (Phase 1) and CONTROL, PARO, and DOG (Phase 2). In the day care center, all patients received therapy with NAO (Phase 1) and PARO (Phase 2).
Key findings
- Methods In the nursing home, patients were assigned by living units, based on dementia severity, to one of the three parallel therapeutic arms to compare: CONTROL, PARO and NAO (Phase 1) and CONTROL, PARO, and DOG (Phase 2).
- In the day care center, all patients received therapy with NAO (Phase 1) and PARO (Phase 2).
- Therapy sessions were held 2 days per week during 3 months.
- Evaluation, at baseline and follow-up, was carried out by blind raters using: the Global Deterioration Scale (GDS), the Severe Mini Mental State Examination (sMMSE), the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), the Apathy Scale for Institutionalized Patients with Dementia Nursing Home version (APADEM-NH), the Apathy Inventory (AI) and the Quality of Life Scale (QUALID).
Why it matters
This was a pilot study comparing a humanoid robot, a pet robot and a real animal in therapy sessions for patients with advanced dementia. The available text does not report whether these sessions improved cognition or any other outcome.
Study details
- Study designclinical trial
- Participants101
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 50/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Frontiers in aging neuroscience) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience: journal h-index 174 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | Design recorded as “clinical trial”, which our rubric does not rank (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2015 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 101 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 246 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 18.9 citations a year over 13 year(s) since 2015 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 15.7× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 6 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 69 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 1 / 4 | Last-listed author Pablo Martínez Martín: h-index 9 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 0 / 3 | Instituto de Salud Carlos III: institution h-index 649 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 26388764) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 50 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2015.00133
- PubMed: 26388764
- Original source →
- Free full text: Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Valentí Soler, M., Agüera-Ortiz, L., Olazarán Rodríguez, J., Mendoza Rebolledo, C., Pérez Muñoz, A., Rodríguez Pérez, I., et al. (2015). Social robots in advanced dementia. Frontiers in aging neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2015.00133
Vancouver
Valentí Soler M, Agüera-Ortiz L, Olazarán Rodríguez J, Mendoza Rebolledo C, Pérez Muñoz A, Rodríguez Pérez I, et al. Social robots in advanced dementia. Frontiers in aging neuroscience. 2015. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2015.00133. PMID: 26388764.
BibTeX
@article{valentisoler2015-26388764,
author = {Valentí Soler, M. and Agüera-Ortiz, L. and Olazarán Rodríguez, J. and Mendoza Rebolledo, C. and Pérez Muñoz, A. and Rodríguez Pérez, I. and Osa Ruiz, E. and Barrios Sánchez, A. and others},
title = {{Social robots in advanced dementia}},
journal = {Frontiers in aging neuroscience},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.3389/fnagi.2015.00133},
pmid = {26388764},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2015.00133}
}
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