A Longitudinal Study of Child Wellbeing Assessment via Online Interactions with a Social Robot
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22190879 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nida Itrat Abbasi (0009-0004-9399-563X, University of Cambridge), Guy Laban (0000-0002-3796-1804, University of Cambridge), T Ford (0000-0001-5295-4904, University of Cambridge), Peter Blundell Jones (0000-0002-0387-880X, University of Cambridge), Hatice Gunes (0000-0003-2407-3012, University of Cambridge) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 1-35 |
| Publication date | 2025-06-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2573-9522 • E-ISSN: 2573-9522 |
| Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1145/3722123 |
| OpenAlex | W4408405153 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 101 |
Socially Assistive Robots are studied in different child–robot interaction settings. However, logistical constraints limit accessibility, particularly affecting timely support for mental wellbeing. In this work, we have investigated whether online interactions with a robot can be used for the assessment of mental wellbeing in children. The children (N = 40, 20 girls and 20 boys; 8–13 years) interacted with the Nao robot (30–45 mins) over three sessions, at least a week apart. Audio-visual recordings were collected throughout the sessions that concluded with the children answering user perception questionnaires pertaining to their anxiety toward the robot, and the robot’s abilities. We divided the participants into three wellbeing clusters (low, med, and high tertiles) using their responses to the Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) and further analyzed how their wellbeing and their perceptions of the robot changed over the wellbeing tertiles, across sessions and across participants’ gender. Our primary findings suggest that (I) online-mediated interactions with robots can be effective in assessing children’s mental wellbeing over time, and (II) children’s overall perception of the robot either improved or remained consistent across time. Supplementary exploratory analyses have also revealed that the gender of the children affected their wellbeing assessments with interactions effectively distinguishing between varying levels of wellbeing for both boys and girls for the first session and only for boys during the second session. The analyses have also revealed that girls have a higher opinion of the robot as a confidante as compared with boys. Findings from this work affirm the potential of using online-mediated interactions with robots for the assessment of the mental wellbeing of children
Developmental psychology · Longitudinal study · Robot · Statistics · Applied Psychology · Child Development and Digital Technology · Computer Science · Digital Mental Health Interventions · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Robot Interaction and HRI · Artificial Intelligence
Regression to the mean
The Impact of Mental Illness Stigma on Seeking and Participating in Mental Health Care
Psychometric properties of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale in a clinical sample
Stigma starts early
Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1
False-Positive Psychology
Robots as Mental Well-being Coaches
‘No, Alexa, no!’
AI's empathy gap
Masculinity and emotionality in education
Analysing Children’s Responses from Multiple Modalities During Robot-Assisted Assessment of Mental Wellbeing
Use of a Social Robot in the Implementation of a Narrative Intervention for Young People with Cystic Fibrosis
Building Long-Term Human–Robot Relationships
The Psychology of Survey Response
Multilevel Modeling of Longitudinal Growth and Change
Social Robots for Supporting Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Diagnosis and Treatment
Effort-Reward Imbalance and Job Strain
Internet use and electronic gaming by children and adolescents with emotional and behavioural problems in Australia – results from the second Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing
A Framework for Understanding Modifications to Measures for Diverse Populations
Adjusting for multiple testing when reporting research results
The Child Factor in Child–Robot Interaction
Coping with Emotional Distress via Self-Disclosure to Robots
Where to Next? The Impact of Covid-19 on Human-Robot Interaction Research
Social Robots for Long-Term Interaction
Comparing Robot Embodiments in a Guided Discovery Learning Interaction with Children
Personality perception of robot avatar tele-operators
Great Expectations? Relation of Previous Experiences With Social Robots in Real Life or in the Media and Expectancies Based on Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment
The benefit of being physically present
Interactive Robots as Social Partners and Peer Tutors for Children
Measurement Instruments for the Anthropomorphism, Animacy, Likeability, Perceived Intelligence, and Perceived Safety of Robots
Parental recognition of preadolescent mental health problems
Mediated communication matters during the Covid-19 pandemic
Family Matters
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |