The effect of social robot interventions on anxiety in children in clinical settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis

IF 4.9 2区医学 Q1 CLINICAL NEUROLOGY

Journal of affective disorders Pub Date : 2025-04-22 DOI:10.1016/j.jad.2025.04.102

Ruo-Yan Wu , Xin-Heng Li , Yi-Chen Li , Zhi-Hong Ren , Bing-Xiang Yang , Zhen-Tao Liu , Bao-Liang Zhong , Chen-Ling Liu

{"title":"The effect of social robot interventions on anxiety in children in clinical settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis","authors":"Ruo-Yan Wu , Xin-Heng Li , Yi-Chen Li , Zhi-Hong Ren , Bing-Xiang Yang , Zhen-Tao Liu , Bao-Liang Zhong , Chen-Ling Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.jad.2025.04.102","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Aims</h3><div>Children in clinical settings are prone to anxiety due to developmental limitations, which hinders treatment progress. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy of social robot interventions compared to routine care or alternative non-pharmacological strategies in reducing anxiety among children aged 4–12 years undergoing medical procedures in clinical settings, based on evidence from randomized controlled trials.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The review protocol was prospectively registered in PROSPERO. Five electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library and PsycINFO were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the effects of SRs on children's anxiety. The search ends on 1 December 2024. A total of 10 RCTs meeting the inclusion criteria were identified, involving 877 children aged 4–12 years.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The meta-analysis reveals a significant reduction in anxiety levels among children who interacted with social robots in clinical settings. Subgroup analyses showed that 1) Both inpatient and outpatient children exhibited reduced anxiety levels. 2) School-age children experienced a decrease in anxiety following interventions with social robots. 3) The social robots were effective in alleviating children's anxiety using distraction techniques and psycho-educational interventions.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>This meta-analysis is the first to summarize the effects of social robots on anxiety in children and finds an overall positive trend. It's more effective than traditional psychotherapy and has no adverse effects due to drug use. In the context of care shortages, social robots represent a significant tool for reducing anxiety among children in clinical settings and demonstrate promising potential.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14963,"journal":{"name":"Journal of affective disorders","volume":"382 ","pages":"Pages 304-315"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of affective disorders","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032725006779","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aims

Children in clinical settings are prone to anxiety due to developmental limitations, which hinders treatment progress. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy of social robot interventions compared to routine care or alternative non-pharmacological strategies in reducing anxiety among children aged 4–12 years undergoing medical procedures in clinical settings, based on evidence from randomized controlled trials.

Methods

The review protocol was prospectively registered in PROSPERO. Five electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library and PsycINFO were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the effects of SRs on children's anxiety. The search ends on 1 December 2024. A total of 10 RCTs meeting the inclusion criteria were identified, involving 877 children aged 4–12 years.

Results

The meta-analysis reveals a significant reduction in anxiety levels among children who interacted with social robots in clinical settings. Subgroup analyses showed that 1) Both inpatient and outpatient children exhibited reduced anxiety levels. 2) School-age children experienced a decrease in anxiety following interventions with social robots. 3) The social robots were effective in alleviating children's anxiety using distraction techniques and psycho-educational interventions.

Conclusions

This meta-analysis is the first to summarize the effects of social robots on anxiety in children and finds an overall positive trend. It's more effective than traditional psychotherapy and has no adverse effects due to drug use. In the context of care shortages, social robots represent a significant tool for reducing anxiety among children in clinical settings and demonstrate promising potential.

查看原文本刊更多论文

社交机器人干预对临床环境中儿童焦虑的影响：系统回顾和荟萃分析

目的临床环境中的儿童由于发育限制而容易产生焦虑，这阻碍了治疗的进展。本系统综述和荟萃分析旨在评估社交机器人干预与常规护理或替代非药物策略相比，在减少4-12岁儿童在临床环境中接受医疗程序的焦虑方面的效果，基于随机对照试验的证据。方法该综述方案在PROSPERO进行前瞻性注册。我们检索了PubMed、Web of Science、Embase、Cochrane Library和PsycINFO等5个电子数据库，寻找随机对照试验（RCTs）来研究SRs对儿童焦虑的影响。搜寻将于2024年12月1日结束。共纳入10项符合纳入标准的rct，涉及4-12岁儿童877例。结果荟萃分析显示，在临床环境中与社交机器人互动的儿童的焦虑水平显著降低。亚组分析显示：1)住院和门诊儿童的焦虑水平均有所降低。2)学龄儿童在接受社交机器人干预后，焦虑程度有所下降。3)社交机器人通过分散注意力技术和心理教育干预有效缓解儿童焦虑。这项荟萃分析首次总结了社交机器人对儿童焦虑的影响，并发现了总体上积极的趋势。它比传统的心理治疗更有效，而且没有药物使用的副作用。在护理短缺的背景下，社交机器人代表了减少临床环境中儿童焦虑的重要工具，并显示出良好的潜力。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of affective disorders 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

10.90

自引率

6.10%

发文量

1319

审稿时长

9.3 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of Affective Disorders publishes papers concerned with affective disorders in the widest sense: depression, mania, mood spectrum, emotions and personality, anxiety and stress. It is interdisciplinary and aims to bring together different approaches for a diverse readership. Top quality papers will be accepted dealing with any aspect of affective disorders, including neuroimaging, cognitive neurosciences, genetics, molecular biology, experimental and clinical neurosciences, pharmacology, neuroimmunoendocrinology, intervention and treatment trials.