Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of social robots for older adults and people with dementia: a scoping review protocol

Psychosocial health issues such as depression and social isolation are an important cause of morbidity and premature mortality for older adults and people with dementia. Social robots are promising technological innovations to deliver effective psychosocial interventions to promote psychosocial wellbeing. Studies have reported positive findings regarding this technology on the psychosocial health of older adults and people with dementia. However, despite positive findings of the effects of social robots for older adults and people with dementia, little is known about factors affecting their implementation in practice.

This study follows Arksey and O’Malley’s approach and methodological enhancement by Levac et al. Relevant articles will be identified by searching electronic databases: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, Compendex and PubMed. A two-phase screening process will be undertaken by two independent reviewers to determine articles’ inclusion. Findings will be summarised and reported thematically based on domains in the Consolidated Framework of Implementation Research (CFIR) and presented narratively. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) will guide the reporting of findings.

Reporting the protocol in advance of conducting the review will ensure that rigorous and transparent methodological approach is undertaken. The outcomes of the review include identifying variants in terminologies used to describe implementation, identifying the scope of the literature regarding the barriers and facilitators affecting the implementation of social robots and identifying research gaps to guide further empirical research in this field. This evidence synthesis constitutes part of a bigger project aimed to develop implementation guidelines for social robotics for older adults with dementia. Since the methodological process consists of reviewing and collecting data from publicly available data, this study does not require approval from a research ethics board.

Our protocol is registered with the Open Science Framework (https://​osf.​io/​2x3y9/​) as an open access article, under the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC-4.0) license, which allows others to distribute, remix, adapt and build on this work on a non-commercial basis, and license their derivative work using different terms, on the basis that the original basis is properly cited and the use is non-commercial (http://​creativecommons.​org/​licenses/​by-nc/​4.​0/​).