JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Various types of robots have already been successfully used in medical care and the use of new technologies is also playing an increasing role in the area of sexuality. Only few studies have focused on the opinion of the general population on sex robots so far. First considerations about the therapeutic use of sex robots in sexual therapy are debated in expert discussions.

Objective:

The aim of our study is to conduct a first explorative survey on the attitudes of sex therapists towards the therapeutic benefits of sex robots.

Methods:

We employed a mixed-method design. In the first part of our study, we used a self-constructed questionnaire to survey the attitudes of sex therapists and sex physicians towards sex robots in general and as a tool in therapy. In addition, two standardized tests, the NEO-FFI and the TAEG, were used to determine the personality traits and technical affinity of the sample in order to test whether these factors have an influence on the attitude. In order to gain in-depth insight into the participants’ beliefs and attitudes towards the therapeutical use of sexrobots, we used semi-structured interviews in the second part of our survey. The quantitative data were used for statistical analysis and the interviews were transcribed and analyzed by using grounded theory approach.

Results:

The majority of sex therapists (89%) could imagine a general use of sex robots. Less could imagine recommending sex robots in therapy (45%). The attitude towards sex robots as a therapeutic tool was very heterogeneous, with gender (P=.006), age (P= .039) and occupational differences (P= .051): Female therapists, older therapists and psychologists (in contrast to physicians) are more critical towards the therapeutic use of sex robots. The analysis of the interviews identified 3 high-level core themes that were representative of the participants’ responses: 1. The importance of the personal definition of sex robots for the assessment of their therapeutic benefits, 2. Therapeutic benefits and dangers of sex robots and 3. Considerations on the quality of Robot Sexuality. Initial insights into the possible therapeutic use of sex robots in different disorders (e.g. sexual dysfunction or pedophilia) and situations such as to live out certain fantasies were gained from the perspective of sex therapists.

Conclusions:

The results of our study provide a first overview of the potential therapeutic use of sex robots. Moral, ethical and treatment-related issues in this context are still unresolved and need to be further researched. We suggest to integrate the topic into the training of sex therapists in order to form opinions beyond media images and to show therapy possibilities. Sexual scientists should be involved in the development of sex robots in order to design robots with positive effects on sexual education, sexual therapy, sexual counselling and sexual well-being for interested groups.