My mum’s dementia is advanced but a robodog made her happier
“Ah, aren’t you a bonny little thing? Oh you’re just lovely, aren’t you?” This was – somewhat surprisingly – my 80-year-old mum’s reaction to being presented with a robodog, one of the interactive pets being used by the NHS to help dementia patients and to combat loneliness and isolation in older people.
Mum’s dementia has advanced considerably in recent months. She’s withdrawn, doesn’t say much, stays in bed much of the day and no longer engages hugely with her beloved grandkids. Yet each and every time we presented her with this fluffy pup – with sensors that responded to her touch, a ‘heartbeat’ and a ‘barkback’ voice response – she was utterly enchanted by it.
Research shows there are more than 944,000 people in the UK who have dementia, with one in 11 people over the age of 65 living with the condition. A progressive disease that affects memory, thinking and behaviour, for those with dementia and their families, the comfort of a pet that doesn’t need walking or looking after is an intriguing concept.
And for our family, the robodog has been a revelation. The puppy sat with her on the sofa watching Bargain Hunt and Richard Osman’s House of Games, she cuddled and stroked it and, each time we left the room, we would come back to her having a little natter with it. Her whole demeanour changed whenever ‘Cooper’, as my nine-year-old daughter named the pup, was around. “Oh, isn’t he gorgeous?” she would say to us, on repeat. She softened, she was less agitated, there were even glimmers of joy on her face, something she doesn’t experience a lot of these days.
Initially I hadn’t been convinced, unsure whether the notion of a robot ‘support’ pet was a nonsense, a bit of a gimmick, but, if my mother’s engagement with it is anything to go by, there’s clearly something in this – and the NHS seems to think so too.
The Bedford, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board has launched a digitising social care programme that offers technology to adults with dementia, as well as those experiencing depression and anxiety, challenging behaviour, cognitive impairment and communication difficulties. As part of their Digitising Social Care initiative, they are providing 1,300 adults in various care settings with robot pets. Other organisations, including Mid and South Essex Hospitals Charity and East Sussex County Council, have also provided local residents with these interactive dogs and cats.
An eight-month study at the Centre for Health Technology at the University of Plymouth looked at the use of robot pets in care homes in Cornwall. Their research concluded that the pets hold potential for improving the wellbeing of people with dementia, including reducing neuropsychiatric symptoms and occupational disruptiveness which, in this case, means potentially reducing the burden for carers. In our instance, it did deliver that much-needed bit of light and my stepdad, who cares for mum daily, was rather taken by the robodog himself – though I can’t say it lifted the emotional and physical load on him by any significant margin.
The research did also suggest that there was no novelty effect of the robopets (as suspected by me), shown by sustained use by the care home residents it monitored. So could robot pets really be a revolutionary way to improve the lives of dementia patients and their carers? “Sadly, where dementia care is concerned, there is rarely a ‘quick fix’. Over 900,000 people are living with dementia, and the type of support needed varies and will continue to change as their condition progresses,” says Angelo Makri, a senior knowledge officer for wellbeing at the Alzheimer’s Society. “But robot pets can provide positive, tangible differences to people living with dementia, and can have a similar calming effect as a living pet.”
Clearly it is not a one-size-fits-all scenario – when we tried to introduce the dog to a friend’s mother, diagnosed with a mix of Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia five years ago, she was horrified by the mere sight of video footage of the cute pup, and wouldn’t let it come anywhere near her. “The effect of a robopet will vary, which is why it is important to use a person-centred approach. Some people with dementia will feel comforted at having a life-like pet with fur and a heartbeat to stroke and hold, whereas others may find it a poor substitute and not accept it,” says Makri.
The study found that robot pets were most effective for people with a greater severity of dementia than those in earlier stages. “Generally speaking, it is the middle-to-late stages where people may have difficulty looking after a real pet, which is why carers and family members may start to consider alternatives,” Makri explains. “However, if a person with dementia has always had a pet, then an unresponsive robotic version may be confusing or distressing for them – they may think it is sleeping all the time or may have died. Some people also experience what is known as ‘time-shifting’ – where they believe they’re in an earlier stage of their life than they are – so they could reject this robopet as ‘their’ pet, as it does not look or act the same way.”
Clare Steward, the programme director for Digitising Social Care, is the driving force behind the initiative in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes, an area with a higher diagnosis rate for dementia than the England average. “We’re very aware that depression, loneliness and dementia are real challenges for our ageing population and are keen to invest in solutions that help improve quality of life and reduce pressure on care services. We conducted a horizon scan of digital technology to support people with dementia which identified 13 innovations, and worked with local care providers to agree which two schemes would most benefit our residents and providers,” she explains. And so came the introduction of robot pets – alongside PainChek, a tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to recognise small changes in facial expressions and voice to quantify a pain score, supporting those who are unable to reliably verbalise pain.
Steward hopes there will be further benefits on top of improving patient wellbeing. “We anticipate that introducing robo pets and PainChek into care settings will free up staff’s time to engage with residents and improve job satisfaction which in turn will improve staff retention. Family members will have more peace of mind that their loved ones are receiving person-centred, high-quality care, strengthening relationships between families and staff.”
The charity director of Age UK, Caroline Abrahams, has mixed feelings on the Department of Health’s investment in robot pets. “It’s good that the Government is investing money in testing out innovative approaches within social care. I’m sure that as technology develops, it will play an increasingly important role within social care and we should certainly be looking to embrace the good things it has to offer us,” she says.
“Fundamentally though, there is the question of cost. The most pressing issues within social care at the moment are the chronic shortages of paid staff and funding, and the fact that more than 1.6 million older people are living with some unmet need for care – personal care to help them with washing, dressing, eating and the like. Robot pets aren’t very good at these things.”
Indeed, we’ve been waiting for almost three months for a visit from social services to even begin to get the ball rolling with any (unlikely) home help for my mum and stepdad. A robodog isn’t going to cut her toenails, wash her hair or insist that she takes her meds every morning, aspects of care that he struggles with.
“It is important for us not to get too carried away with technology. There is undoubtedly huge potential for the future but, at present, its role in front line social care is pretty marginal,” says Abrahams. “We mustn’t let its shininess distract us from tackling the problems afflicting services today.”
The Digitising Social Care initiative is supplied by RoboPets.
Alzheimer’s Society has a collection of items, including Precious Petzzz, on its online store which provide comfort and support to people living with dementia. For more information visit their website.