{"id":24083,"date":"2018-05-15T10:32:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-15T14:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=24083"},"modified":"2022-03-16T11:58:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T15:58:00","slug":"plymouth-robots-counselors-psychiatrists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/plymouth-robots-counselors-psychiatrists\/","title":{"rendered":"Robots: Counselors That Truly Listen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Researchers at the University of Plymouth have proven, for the first time, that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.plymouth.ac.uk\/news\/could-robots-be-counsellors-early-research-shows-positive-user-experience\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">robots can conduct<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a helpful, enjoyable motivational interview (MI). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MI is a technique used in psychiatry that involves a counselor asking questions and encouraging someone to explain their need and reasons for wanting change in their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The use of robots allows people to explain their thoughts, emotions and ideas without worrying about being judged or interrupted by a human counselor. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe advantages of using robots are that they could potentially increase access to counseling, and that they could engage people who might otherwise not want to speak to a counsellor, for example, because of fears of being judged or because they don\u2019t think counseling could help them,\u201d said <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.plymouth.ac.uk\/staff\/jackie-andrade\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jackie Andrade<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, professor in the Plymouth School of Psychology and researcher in this study. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe robot could give an opportunity to practice, to start talking about an issue, and guide users towards appropriate services delivered by humans,\u201d she continued. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many participants of the study claimed to enjoy speaking to the humanoid NAO robot. One participant even preferred conversing with the robot, compared to a human. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In MI, the role of the interviewer is to initiate a conversation about change and commitment. The researchers programmed the robot with a set script of statements and questions, primarily designed to encourage participants to increase their physical activity. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each participant\u2019s interview was unique, and some lasted up to an hour. When each participant was finished answering a question, he or she tapped the top of the robot\u2019s head to move on. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"NAO robot delivers a counselling session\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PfbuKxnp2Mc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The researchers determined that the robot was successful in inspiring those who wanted to increase their level of physical activity to speak about their dilemmas and goals. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Researchers at Plymouth have been exploring technological ways to deliver counseling for a while, explained Andrade. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMy colleague in robotics, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/tonybelpaeme.me\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tony Belpaeme<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, was already using robots to support children with diabetes and autism, so we had robots and coding skills available and evidence that people engaged with robots well in other settings,\u201d said Andrade. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Going into the study, the researchers were primarily concerned that people wouldn\u2019t talk to the robot, and that it wouldn\u2019t be able to deliver the personalized responses that most people would require, said Andrade. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But these concerns were quickly resolved. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe participants perceived the interaction as enjoyable, interesting and helpful,\u201d Andrade said in a statement. \u201cParticipants found it especially useful to hear themselves talking about their behaviour aloud, and liked the fact that the robot didn\u2019t interrupt, which suggests that this new intervention has a potential advantage over other technology-delivered adaptations of MI.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Next, the researchers plan to begin a quantitative study to determine whether the interviews actually increased the participants\u2019 activity levels. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eventually, this technology could be used in individual homes and schools. But first, some work must be done. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFor individuals to purchase and use robots like NAO, cost is a barrier, but we are now developing ways of delivering the same experience with cheaper technology, e.g., chatbots,\u201d said Andrade. \u201cTo use a robot counsellor in a GP surgery or school, we would need to do more work to make it fully automated, so the user could initiate a conversation without needing an operator to switch the robot on and initiate the interview.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lead researcher of this study was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cognovo.eu\/people\/research-fellows\/joana-galvao.php\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joana Galv\u00e3o Gomes da Silva<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who conducted the research as part of her doctoral research in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cognovo.eu\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">University of Plymouth\u2019s CogNovo program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The full study is published in the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jmir.org\/2018\/5\/e116\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Journal of Medical Internet Research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at the University of Plymouth have proven, for the first time, that robots can conduct a helpful, enjoyable motivational interview (MI). MI is a technique used in psychiatry that involves a counselor asking questions and encouraging someone to explain their need and reasons for wanting change in their lives. The use of robots allows [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":45655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[232,619,632,230,229,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","category-mind","category-robotics","category-news","category-lead-stories","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Robots-Counselors-That-Truly-Listen.jpg",830,533,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Robots-Counselors-That-Truly-Listen-224x144.jpg",224,144,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Robots-Counselors-That-Truly-Listen-300x193.jpg",300,193,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Robots-Counselors-That-Truly-Listen.jpg",830,533,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Robots-Counselors-That-Truly-Listen.jpg",830,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Robots-Counselors-That-Truly-Listen.jpg",830,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Robots-Counselors-That-Truly-Listen.jpg",830,533,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jackson Schroeder","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/author\/jackson-schroeder\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Researchers at the University of Plymouth have proven, for the first time, that robots can conduct a helpful, enjoyable motivational interview (MI). MI is a technique used in psychiatry that involves a counselor asking questions and encouraging someone to explain their need and reasons for wanting change in their lives. The use of robots allows&hellip;","featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Robots-Counselors-That-Truly-Listen.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}