Older Adults' Engagement and Mood During Robot-Assisted Group Activities in Nursing Homes: Development and Observational Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Promoting the well-being of older adults in an aging society requires new solutions. One resource might be the use of social robots for group activities that promote physical and cognitive stimulation. Engaging in a robot-assisted group activity may help in the slowdown of physical and cognitive decline in older adults. Currently, our knowledge is limited on whether older adults engage in group activities with humanlike social robots and whether they experience a positive affect while doing so. Both are necessary preconditions to achieve the intended effects of a group activity. OBJECTIVE: Our pilot study has 2 aims. First, we aimed to develop and pilot an observational coding scheme for robot-assisted group activities because self-report data on engagement and mood of nursing home residents are often difficult to obtain, and the existing observation instruments do have limitations. Second, we aimed to investigate older adults' engagement and mood during robot-assisted group activities in 4 different nursing care homes in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. METHODS: We developed an observation system, inspired by existing tools, for a structured observation of engagement and mood of older adults during a robot-assisted group activity. In this study, 85 older adult residents from 4 different care homes in Switzerland participated in 5 robot-assisted group activity sessions, and they were observed using our developed system. The data were collected in the form of video clips that were assessed by 2 raters regarding engagement (direction of gaze, posture as well as body expression, and activity) and mood (positive and negative affects). Both variables were rated on a 5-point rating scale. RESULTS: Our pilot study findings show that the engagement and mood of older adults can be assessed reliably by using the proposed observational coding scheme. Most participants actively engaged in robot-assisted group activities (mean 4.19, SD 0.47; median 4.0). The variables used to measure engagement were direction of gaze (mean 4.65, SD 0.49; median 5.0), posture and body expression (mean 4.03, SD 0.71; median 4.0), and activity (mean 3.90, SD 0.65; median 4.0). Further, we observed mainly positive affects in this group. Almost no negative affect was observed (mean 1.13, SD 0.20; median 1.0), while the positive affect (mean 3.22, SD 0.55; median 3.2) was high. CONCLUSIONS: The developed observational coding system can be used and further developed in future studies on robot-assisted group activities in the nursing home context and potentially in other settings. Additionally, our pilot study indicates that cognitive and physical stimulation of older adults can be promoted by social robots in a group setting. This finding encourages future technological development and improvement of social robots and points to the potential of observational research to systematically evaluate such developments.

Perceived privacy in home office and musculoskeletal complaints: a test of family-work conflict, work-family conflict, and relaxation as mediators.

Many employees have had to telework all year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though working from home has many advantages, there are also some disadvantages worth to consider. Lack of privacy is a relevant factor when it comes to the development of severe musculoskelatal issues. This study investigated the link between perceived privacy in home office and musculoskeletal complaints (MSCs). Family-work conflict (FWC), work-family conflict (WFC), and relaxation were tested as potential mediators for the relationship between perceived privacy and MSCs. The present study's questionnaire was filled out by 287 teleworking employees. Hypotheses were tested via multiple mediation analyses examining levels of perceived privacy in home office, and its relationship on MSCs. Furthermore, the underlying effect of FWC, WFC, and MSCs were tested with a structural equation model. As assumed, lack of privacy while working at home was linked to individuals more frequently experiencing MSCs. However, the structural equation model showed no significant mediation effect. Work design efforts must address privacy while employees perform telework at home to prevent MSCs.

A systematic review of working conditions and occupational health in home office.

BACKGROUND: In times of the COVID-19 pandemic, employees around the world may be practicing part-time telework at home. Little is known about the working conditions at home and its impact on the employee's occupational health. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review examines the working conditions at employees' homes, the work-related disorders associated with working from home, organizations' perceptions of ergonomics at home and how they support their teleworkers. METHODS: A search of electronic databases (Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, Google Scholar, Open Grey, Pedro, PsychInfo, PubPsych, Scopus and Web of Science) was performed. Twelve studies were included in this review. RESULTS: The findings highlight the lack of ergonomic working conditions for home-based teleworkers. Furthermore, the results underline organizations' lack of awareness regarding home-based policies, ergonomics programs and the health-related consequences associated with the absence of ergonomic support. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that home-based teleworkers have increased health risks. This assumption is substantiated by the fact that most of the included studies reported teleworkers who have experienced musculoskeletal issues. These results underline the necessity for implementing ergonomic design recommendations, especially for working at home. Further research is needed to understand the impact of ergonomics programs and workplace design for working at home.

Working from home: Cognitive irritation as mediator of the link between perceived privacy and sleep problems.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, many employees have been required to work full or part-time at home. This paper investigates the impact of perceived privacy on cognitive irritation and sleep problems among employees who worked from home during the pandemic. Additionally, we analyzed the role of cognitive irritation as a mediator between privacy and sleep problems. We created a cross-sectional questionnaire, which was completed by 293 employees who performed home-based telework in German-speaking Switzerland. A mediation analysis was then conducted using a multiple regression analysis. A test of the indirect effect showed a significant mediation path from perceived privacy via cognitive irritation to sleep problems. Hence, the negative indirect effect indicates that perceived privacy is an important job resource that may prevent sleep problems. Further research is needed regarding home-based telework and recovery strategies to prevent sleep problems.