University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Older adults' perceptions towards socially assistive robots: connecting trust and perceived sociability

Rhee, Danniel

Content Files
RHEE-THESIS-2020.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/108629

Description

Title
Older adults' perceptions towards socially assistive robots: connecting trust and perceived sociability
Author(s)
Rhee, Danniel
Issue Date
2020-07-23
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Rogers, Wendy A,
Committee Member(s)
Klonoff-Cohen, Hillary
Department of Study
Kinesiology & Community Health
Discipline
Community Health
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Date of Ingest
2020-10-07T22:44:41Z
Keyword(s)
  • socially assistive robot
  • older adults
  • trust
  • perceived sociability
  • social characteristics
  • intention to use
Abstract
The older adult population is increasing very rapidly. Today, there are more than 46 million older adults aged 65 or older living in the United States, and by 2034, the number of older adults is projected to increase by almost 32 million (Census, 2018). With an increasing population, there is a need to support older adults' quality of life. One of the potential solutions is to use Socially Assistive Robots (henceforth SARs) to support older adults with Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, which allow an individual to live independently (Lawton & Brody, 1969). Upon using SARs for IADL tasks, two constructs of the older adults' acceptance towards SARs need to be acknowledged as they influence older adults' perceptions towards SARs: user trust and user perceived sociability. Several studies (Heerink et al., 2010; Breazeal, 2003; Krejin et al., 2007; Whelan et al., 2018; Lewis, 2018) suggested user trust and perceived sociability influence older adults to accept SARs positively. However, the literature suggests a gap of knowledge identifying the real relationship between constructs of user trust and user perceived sociability. This study was an online survey study aiming to uncover the relationship between user trust, perceived sociability, and intention to use SARs through correlation and regression analysis. The result showed a significant correlation between user trust and perceived sociability. Further, the user trust and user perceived sociability were significantly correlated with users’ intentions to use SARs. Finally, the study's findings indicated perceived sociability and user trust had significant relationships with user intention to use SARs. Thus, these data provide valuable insight: the relationship between sociability and trust, and design considerations towards developing a robot advance the design criteria of SARs widely accepted by older adults.
Graduation Semester
2020-08
Type of Resource
Thesis
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108629
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2020 Danniel Rhee

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