SimpleC Wellness Platform With Social Robot Interaction

Social Assistive Robot Interface for People With Alzheimers and Other Dementias to Aid in Care Management

This implementation study will be conducted to test a Socially-Assistive Robot (SAR) system for residents in an Assisted Living environment. The goal of the SAR system is to enhance social engagement and connectedness. The system engages residents via robot-facilitated activities such as trivia and reminder and is integrated with the SimpleC Wellness Platform.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Quality of Life; Cognitive Impairment; Dementia; Aging; Mild Cognitive Impairment; Engagement, Patient; Mood
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: SimpleC Wellness Platform with Social Robot Interaction

Detailed Description

This is a 3-week mixed-method study to assess the installation procedure, assess user first impressions, develop training, assess user materials, and identify any barriers and concerns during implementation. New features and design will be validated.

Research questions include:

• How should the SAR system be introduced to the users and their environment?
• What are facilitators and barriers to implementation?
• Will users accept the SAR system in their environment?
• What are facilitators and barriers to SAR system acceptance?

• What are the desired parameters that the SAR system should have?

  • What social behaviors do users expect?
  • What tasks would be acceptable that the SAR system tablet do?
  • How should the SAR system's perception, competence, and awareness be presented to users?
  • What is most valuable to users and why?
• If the answer depends, then what does it depend on (user, task, environment)?

Sample: Thirty individuals will participate: 10 residents, 10 family, and 10 staff. Enrollment will stop when reaching saturation.

Procedure: The research will follow established procedures for recruitment, screening, and assessment. Participants will provide informed consent, which will be followed by a baseline assessment. Participants will be screened to ascertain inclusion and exclusion criteria. Residents and Senior Housing Community will receive the new SAR system, which includes a virtual robot (SARv) and physical social robot (SAR). At the beginning of the study, enrolled residents will receive a tablet with a personalized profile, wellness programs, and virtual robot using the standard SimpleC enrollment process. Installation will be followed by training. Residents and family will be invited to personalize residents' profile and programming. One social robot will be implement for the whole community. Participants will engage with the SAR system as they are willing. All staff, residents, and family will be invited to use the SAR system, independent of study participation status. At the end of the study, assessments will be administered, which is followed by a brief interview.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 26
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Georgia
    • Athens, Georgia, United States, 30602
      • University of Georgia
    • Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30060
      • SimpleC, LLC

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• All: Fluent in English
• Resident: 50 years and older
• Resident: lives in Assisted Living Community
• Resident: MMSE score of 13 or higher
• Family member: 18 years and older
• Family member: family or friend of resident
• Family member: no diagnosis of dementia or related disorder
• Staff: 18 years and older
• Staff: works for the Senior Housing Community

Exclusion Criteria:

• All: pregnant
• Resident: Expecting to move during the study
• Resident: Both legally deaf and blind

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: SimpleC Wellness Platform with Social Robot Interaction; Three participant groups: Residents, family members, and staff

Other: SimpleC Wellness Platform with Social Robot Interaction; Once respondents enroll, they will receive the SimpleC Wellness Platform, including introduction training on the SAR system. During the study period, participants and others will receive instructions for the SAR system and use it as part of scheduled interactions, which includes interactions as part of the general schedule. In the third week, the social robot will be installed, and staff trained in group sessions as available. Participants may use the full SAR system as they are willing. Interactions specific to the virtual and physical robot include notifications to join activities as per community schedule as well as trivia.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Facilitators to Successful Implementation	[Interview] Identified factors that facilitate successful implementation (e.g., WiFi, environmental set up, user perceptions) as derived from analysis of interview. A content analysis of the qualitative data was conducted. This identified themes, such as usefulness or engagement. We report the frequency of each theme mentioned during the interview.	3 weeks
Barriers to Successful Implementation	[Interview] Identified factors that are barriers to implementation (e.g., WiFi, environmental set up, user perceptions) as derived from interview. A content analysis of the qualitative data was conducted. This identified themes, such as technology or hard to use. We report the frequency of each theme mentioned during the interview.	3 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Technology Acceptance Model Questionnaire. A 12-item Scale (1-7) With High Scores Indicating Higher Acceptance.	[Questionnaires] Assessment of users' perceived ease of use and usefulness of using the technology. There are two sub-scales, with 6 questions each: Perceived Usefulness, Min score = 1 (extremely unlikely), max score = 7 (extremely likely); Perceived Ease of Use: Min score = 1 (extremely unlikely), max score = 7 (extremely likely)We also calculated an overall score which consists of all 12 questions:; Overall: Min score = 1 (extremely unlikely), max score = 7 (extremely likely)	3 weeks
Technology Acceptance and Adoption	[Interview] Assessment of users acceptance and adoption ease of use, usefulness, and satisfaction of using the technology. A content analysis of the qualitative data was conducted. This identified themes, such as music or trivia. We report the frequency of each theme mentioned during the interview.	3 weeks
Robotic Social Attributes Scale (RoSAS): Family & Staff	[Questionnaire] Perception and judgment of Social Assistive Robot social attributes on 3 dimensions: Warmth, competency, and discomfort. An 18-item scale (1-7) with high scores indicating positive attitudes for dimensions of warmth and competency and a negative attitude for dimension of discomfort. There are three sub-scales, with 6 questions each: Warmth: Min score = 1 (not at all), max score = 7 (very much so); Competency: Min score = 1 (not at all), max score = 7 (very much so); Discomfort: Min score = 1 (not at all), max score = 7 (very much so)	3 weeks
Robotic Social Attributes Scale (RoSAS): Residents	[Questionnaire] Perception and judgment of Social Assistive Robot social attributes on 3 dimensions: Warmth, competency, and discomfort. An 18-item scale (1-3) with high scores indicating positive attitudes for dimensions of warmth and competency and a negative attitude for dimension of discomfort. Residents completed a simpler version of the RoSAS. There are three sub-scales, with 6 questions each: Warmth: Min score = 1 (Yes), max score = 3 (No); Competency: Min score = 1 (Yes), max score = 3 (No); Discomfort: Min score = 1 (Yes), max score = 3 (No)	3 weeks
Robot Social Attributes	[Interview] Social Assistive Robot social attributes are identified (e.g., friendliness, competency, etc). A content analysis of the qualitative data was conducted. This identified themes, such as appearance or understanding. We report the frequency of each theme mentioned during the interview.	3 weeks
Usability and Usefulness	[Interview] Identified factors that indicate the ease of use and usefulness for different tasks as derived from analysis of interview. A content analysis of the qualitative data was conducted. We report the frequency of the theme 'useful' and 'helpful' being mentioned during the interview.	3 weeks
Conversation Quality	[Interview] User perceptions on the usefulness and ease of use in conversing with the technology. A content analysis of the qualitative data was conducted. We report the frequency of the themes related to conversation quality mentioned during the interview, for example "understand" or "voice".	3 weeks
Value Proposition/Economic Impact	[Interview] Discussions with facility staff and key decision makers to understand the value of the technology in providing social interaction and reminders to their residents. A content analysis of the qualitative data was conducted. We report the frequency of the use cases mentioned during the interview, for example "music" or "trivia" as high-value propositions.	3 weeks
Requirements	[Interview + Observations] Identified requirements for design, training, and communication as derived from analysis of interview, observations. A content analysis of the qualitative data was conducted. We report the number of requirements mentioned & identified during the interview and observation, for example, enhancing audio features or updating the robot remotely.	3 weeks
Affect	[Interview] Feelings of enjoyment, satisfaction, when using the technology. A content analysis of the qualitative data was conducted. We report the frequency of themes mentioned during the interview, for example "fun" or "engage".	3 weeks
Guilt Scale	[Questionnaire] Guilt Scale. A 3 question, 4-point scale (0 = not at all; 3 = almost unbearable), with a higher score indicating higher guilt for a composite score range of 0 to 9. Only completed by one participant group: Family members	3 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: SimpleC, LLC
• Collaborators: University of Georgia; Advanced Medical Electronics
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Anne Adams, PhD, SimpleC, LLC; Principal Investigator: Jenay Beer, PhD, jenay.beer@uga.edu

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 3, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 7, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): March 7, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 23, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 15, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): March 25, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 5, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 4, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Diagnosis; At risk
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Pathologic Processes; Neurocognitive Disorders; Cognition Disorders; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavior; Treatment Adherence and Compliance; Health Behavior; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Cognitive Dysfunction; Disease; Dementia; Patient Participation
• Other Study ID Numbers: 7645C

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No