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Perspectives of Child Life Specialists After Many Years of Working with a Humanoid Robot in a Pediatric Hospital
Tanya Beran;
Jacqueline Reynolds Pearson;
Bonnie Lashewicz;
Sandy Baggott
ABSTRACT
Background:
Child Life Specialists (CLSs) serve an important role in supporting patients and their families throughout their visit at a children’s hospital. Although they are equipped with considerable expertise to support them during some of the worst moments of their lives, we introduced an additional resource to them in the form of a humanoid robot named MEDi® (NAO robot SoftbankRobotics).
Objective:
This study explores their experiences of using a robot to support children.
Methods:
We interviewed seven CLSs who had worked with this robot for several years. The transcribed interviews were analysed using open and axial coding (Corbin & Strauss, 2008).
Results:
The first main theme that emerged is the process of navigating from fear to friendship in learning to use a humanoid robot for therapeutic support. The second major theme is MEDi® as a source of connection and support to children.
Conclusions:
These descriptions show how CLSs can incorporate a robot into their practice.
Citation
Please cite as:
Beran T, Pearson JR, Lashewicz B, Baggott S
Perspectives of Child Life Specialists After Many Years of Working With a Humanoid Robot in a Pediatric Hospital: Narrative Design