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Assessing the Effects of Robotic Pets on Patients With Dementia in the Acute Care Hospital Setting

NCT06683443 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 106

Last updated 2026-03-17

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Robotic pets can provide a source of affection and companionship for patients. This is especially important as individuals with dementia may receive infrequent visitation from family members if their families struggle with how to cope and communicate with their loved one. Several options such as the "Joy for All™" and "Paro" robotic pets offer a source of companionship that is both interactive and comforting.

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMHCS) researchers are seeking to make companion pets available to patients with dementia to provide them with a supplemental enrichment experience that enhances their overall care and lowers their risk for superimposed delirium. The intervention will consist of providing a robotic pet to the patient within 48 hours of admission, which the patient will keep with them throughout their hospital stay and upon discharge. SMHCS researchers will evaluate the effects of the robotic pet interaction on patient delirium scores, as measured by the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale (Nu-DESC), length of stay, and the use of intravenous psychotropic medications, code greys, falls occurrence, restraint use, and IV dislodgement in patients with mild-to-moderate dementia. The Nu-DESC scale is a short assessment tool, estimated to take approximately 3-5 minutes to complete and is already part of standard care at SMHCS. This tool is used by nursing staff with minimal additional training and shows consistent sensitivity (85.7%) and specificity (86.8%) in detecting delirium. The NuDESC score may be positive in a patient with dementia, since some characteristics of dementia can be similar to delirium. However, patients with dementia are at higher risk for developing delirium, so the NuDESC is a helpful tool for the nurse. A score of 2 or higher is considered screening positive for delirium. For this study, the NuDESC tool will be used as a guideline to assist in the screening of delirium. The patients will have to score a 4 or less to be included in the study. Patients that are scoring \>4 will be excluded. Theoretic Framework of Acceptability (TFA) is a questionnaire which will be used to assess health care provider acceptability of the companion animal. This tool is currently not in use at SMHCS, but it will be used as part of this study to assess whether health care providers accept (or reject) the robotic pets as companion animals.

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Robotic Joy for All™ pet

Patients will be provided with the robotic pet within 48 hours of admission and have access to the pets throughout their hospitalization to provide comfort and engagement.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Sarasota Memorial Health Care System

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Joanna D'Elia, MSN, RN, GERO-BC · Sarasota Memorial Health Care System

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-01-02
Primary Completion
2025-12-29
Completion
2025-12-29

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06683443 on ClinicalTrials.gov