Use of Robots in Mental Health Care Research Paper Example

📌Category: Health, Health Care, Mental health, Science, Technology
📌Words: 838
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 22 April 2022

Technological advancements have given birth to amazing inventions that continue to improve the quality of life. Artificial intelligence and robotics are some of the most dynamic technological tools which have found application in several fields. These technologies are developed to replace human effort in conducting different tasks to improve efficiency, reduce production costs, offer specific services, and increase customer satisfaction. There is no limitation of the fields in which these applications can be used. The integration of robotics in medicine has proved to effectively improve the quality of services offered and reduce the cost of health services. Robotics is becoming a crucial player in the delivery of quality mental health and psychological assistance to patients. This paper analyzes the feasibility of the application of robotics in the field of medicine, therapy, and mental health care provision.

Robotics can remove the stigma that surrounds the mental health field. One major challenge facing mental health service provision is prejudice and stigmatization. Patients seeking mental health services often fear being judged as mentally challenged, making them avoid seeking help. A patient might feel uncomfortable sharing their condition with a medical practitioner, resulting in trying to search it on the internet, which is perceived as less judgmental. These patients, therefore, suffer from social isolation and difficulty in expressing their health needs (Lawrence and Kisely, 2010). Based on people’s preference for solutions from the internet to avoid stigmatization, it is worth noting that robotics can offer a suitable alternative. Robots will be non-judgmental, removing the shame associated with looking for mental health services. Consequently, they can overcome the barrier of failure to seek medical attention by mental health patients.

Robotics can significantly reduce the cost of the provision of mental health services. Generally, health services are out of reach to patients of low socioeconomic status due to the high costs of acquiring them.  A study conducted by Mendez et al. (2013) reveals that the application of robotics in treatment resulted in a 60% reduction of transportation costs in seeking medical attention. Additionally, robots can work longer sessions continuously, thereby reducing the costs of having several shifts for human health services providers. An utterly autonomous robot can cut costs even further. Although the initial costs of acquiring these technologies might be high, they can provide cheap labor to replace expensive human labor, making mental health services more affordable. Therefore, robots can cut down the cost of mental health services.

 Robotics can significantly improve the quality of mental service provision. The diagnosis and treatment of mental health services is often a daunting challenge for physicians and patients. According to Mendez et al. (2013), the application of the RP-7 robot in a Canadian hospital increased the degree of satisfaction in clinical decisions, follow-up, streamlined workflow, and reduced strain on decision-making for diagnosis and management. Additionally, patients reported 95% satisfaction, with 84% indicating high satisfaction levels. Remarkably, the nurses reported that using this robot was “extremely helpful” in mitigating mental health challenges that were highly prevalent in the area. The results from that pilot study indicate that robotics in mental health services can massively improve their quality.

Robots can improve accessibility to mental health services. Despite significant advancement in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health challenges, there is still a considerable disparity between the number of patients in need of these services and those that acquire them. According to Comer (2015), a majority of patients that need mental health services are not receiving them, and those that receive them do not receive the highest quality possible of these services. For instance, people in remote areas and those in highly populated areas are often unable to access these services. According to Cao et al. (2019), robot-enhanced therapy (RET) can provide a similar or higher quality therapy as human therapists. Studies done on this technology indicated that RET technology provides faster interventions to autistic children (Cao et al., 2019). Additionally, these children showed a higher preference for these robots compared to human therapists. Consequently, this technology can increase access to health care by either complementing human health service providers or replacing them.

Robotics can offer customized therapy services to special populations that are harder to reach through conventional services. Although mental health challenges are cross-cultural and affect all people, they are more prevalent with special populations such as the elderly. Generalized solutions may not work effectively for these populations, prompting the development of suitable solutions for them. For instance, standard therapeutic practices such as singing, drawing, and coloring may not work well for the elderly, who may be unable to participate in them due to general body weaknesses (Shibata and Wada, 2011). Additionally, therapists may struggle to find common topics to discuss with them due to their age differences. Shibata and Wada (2011) assert that customized robots are effective in therapy services for the elderly. This study revealed that nursing homes for the elderly could use these robots for therapy purposes. Therefore, these robots can be used to give customized care to special populations.

In conclusion, the application of robots in mental health care is an effective way of improving the quality of these services. Artificial intelligence-based medical solutions have a massive potential of revolutionizing health services, giving rise to efficient and friendly solutions. Particularly, robotics can significantly improve mental health services by reducing the stigma, costs of these services, improving their quality, and reaching out to the marginalized and special populations. Therefore, it is prudent to invest in developing these tech-based solutions for mental health care and other health fields.

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