The study examined whether complementary therapy using robotic companions as social agents reduced pain and emotional anxiety in pediatric patients. A total of 18 patients, aged 6–16, and 18 parents participated in the study. The study explored whether the use of robotic animals as companion animals could reduce pain and emotional anxiety in patients and their parents. The study identified when robot-assisted therapy was most effective (alone or together with parent). The study hypothesized that engaging in robot-assisted therapy together would enhance parents' perspective taking, thereby triggering strong empathic resonance and parental modeling to bolster the children's coping skills. The robotic companion was more successful in decreasing pain and negative emotional traits when children and parents were engaged together with the robotic companion. The parent's ability to acknowledge the patient's pain accurately through robot-assisted therapy seemed to reduce pain and emotional anxiety.
TamuraT, YonemitsuS, ItohAet al.Is an entertainment robot useful in the care of elderly people with severe dementia?The Journals of Gerontology, 2004; 59A:83–85.
4.
AllenK, ShykoffBE, IzzoJL. Pet ownership, but not ACE inhibitor therapy, blunts home blood pressure responses to mental stress. Hypertension, 2001; 38:815–20.
5.
DiefenbeckCA, BouffardL, MatukaitisJet al.Healing paws: animal-assisted therapy in acute care. Nursing in Critical Care, 2010; 5:34–9.
6.
DeCourceyM, RussellAC, KeisterKJ. Animal-assisted therapy. Evaluation and implementation of a complementary therapy to improve the psychological and physiological health of critically ill patients. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 2010; 29:211–4.
7.
MarcusDA, BernsteinCD, ConstantinJMet al.Animal-assisted therapy at an outpatient pain management clinic. Pain Medicine, 2012; 13:45–57.
8.
MarcusDA. 2011. The power of wagging tails: a doctor's guide to dog therapy and healing. New York: Demos Health.
9.
WadaK, ShibataT, SaitoTet al.Psychological and social effects of robot-assisted activity in the elderly robot-assisted at health service facilities. Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence & Intelligent Informatics, 2003; 7:130–8.
10.
ShibataT, KawaguchiY, WadaK. Investigation on people living with seal robot at home. International Journal of Social Robotics, 2012; 4:53–63.
11.
WadaK, ShibataT, MushaTet al.Robot therapy for elders affected by dementia. IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Magazine, 2008; 27:53–60.
12.
OkitaSY, SchwartzDL. Young children's understanding of animacy and entertainment robots. International Journal of Humanoid Robotics, 2006; 3:393–412.
13.
CraigKD, PrkachinKM. Social modeling influences on sensory decision theory and psychophysiological indexes of pain. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 1978; 36:805–15.
14.
GoodmanJE, McGrathPJ. Mothers' modeling influences children's pain during a cold pressor task. Pain, 2003; 104:559–65.
15.
AhoAC, EricksonMT. Effects of grade, gender, and hospitalization on children's medical fears, 1985; 6:146–53.
16.
KingNJ, GulloneE, OllendickTH. Manifest anxiety and fearfulness in children and adolescents. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1991; 153:63–73.
17.
OllendickTH. Reliability and validity of the revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC-R)Behaviour Research & Therapy, 1983; 21:685–92.
18.
OllendickTH, KingNJ, FraryRB. Fears in children and adolescents: reliability and generalizability across gender, age and nationality. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 1989; 27:19–26.
19.
Guinness World Records 2002, 2001London: Guinness World Records, Ltd.
20.
WongD, BakerC. 1995. Reference manual for the Wong–Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale. Duarte, CA: Mayday Pain Resource Center.
21.
SpielbergerC. 1973. Manual for the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
22.
SpielbergerC. 1983. Manual for the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
23.
MarksIM. 1987. Fears, phobias and rituals. Panic, anxiety and their disorders. New York: Oxford University Press.
24.
HortonRE, RiddellRRP. Mothers' facial expressions of pain and fear and infants' pain response during immunization. Infant Mental Health Journal, 2010; 31:397–411.
25.
MinekaS, ZinbargR. A contemporary learning theory perspective on the etiology of anxiety disorders: it's not what you thought it was. American Psychologist, 2006; 61:10–26.
26.
EglistonKA, RapeeRM. Inhibition of fear acquisition in toddlers following positive modeling by their mothers. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 2007; 45:1871–82.
27.
GoubertL, VlaeyenJWS, CrombezGet al.Learning about pain from others: an observational learning account. The Journal of Pain, 2011; 12:167–74.
28.
GalleseV. Before and below “theory of mind”: embodied simulation and the neural correlates of social cognition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2007; 362:659–69.
29.
KeysersC, GazzolaV. Towards a unifying neural theory of social cognition. Progress in Brain Research, 2006; 156:379–401.
30.
SingerT. The neuronal basis and ontogeny of empathy and mind reading: review of literature and implications for future research. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2006; 30:855–63.
31.
DecetyJ, JacksonPL. The functional architecture of human empathy. Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 2004; 3:71–100.
32.
DanzigerN, FaillenotI, PeyronR. Can we share a pain we never felt? Neural correlates of empathy in patients with congenital insensitivity to pain. Neuron, 2009; 61:203–12.
33.
CohenS. Social relationships and health. American Psychologist, 2004; 59:676–84.
34.
GerullFC, RapeeRM. Mother knows best: effects of maternal modeling on the acquisition of fear and avoidance behavior in toddlers. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 2007; 40:279–87.
35.
MurisP, SteernemanP, MerckelbachHet al.The role of parental fearfulness and modeling in children's fear. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 1996; 34:265–8.
36.
BernsteinGA, BorchardtCM. Anxiety disorders of childhood and adolescence: a critical review. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 1991; 30:519–32.
37.
MilgromP, ManclL, KingBet al.Origins of childhood dental fear. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 1995; 33:313–19.
38.
OkitaSY, Ng-Thow-HingV, SarvadevabhatlaRK. Multimodal approach to affective human–robot interaction design with children. ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems (TiiS), 2011; 1:1–29.
