IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i2p1281-d1031514.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Comparison of the Physical Care Burden on Formal Caregivers between Manual Human Care Using a Paper Diaper and Robot-Aided Care in Excretion Care

Author

Listed:
  • Jeong-Bae Ko

    (Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea
    Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea)

  • Yong-Ku Kong

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea)

  • Kyeong-Hee Choi

    (Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea)

  • Chang-Ki Lee

    (Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea)

  • Hyun-Ji Keum

    (Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea)

  • Jae-Soo Hong

    (Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea)

  • Byeong-Hee Won

    (Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea)

Abstract

Although the older population has been rapidly growing, the availability of formal caregivers remains limited. Assistance provided by care robots has helped lower this burden; however, whether using a care robot while providing excretion care (EC) is quantitatively increasing or decreasing caregivers’ physical care burden has not been extensively studied. This study aimed to quantitatively compare the physical burden experienced by caregivers while providing manual excretion care (MC) using a paper diaper versus robot-aided care (RC). Ten formal caregivers voluntarily participated in the experiment. MC and RC tasks were structuralized according to phases and classified by characteristics. The experiment was conducted in a smart care space. The physical load of formal caregivers was estimated by muscular activity and subjective rating of perceived physical discomfort. The results demonstrated that although the physical load on the lower back and upper extremities during the preparation and post-care phases were greater in RC than MC, RC markedly alleviated caregivers’ physical load when performing front tasks. In the preparation-care phases, the physical loads on the lower back and upper extremities were approximately 40.2 and 39.6% higher in the case of RC than MC, respectively. Similar to the preparation-care phases, the physical loads on the lower back and upper extremities during post-care phases were approximately 39.5 and 61.7% greater in the case of RC than MC, respectively. On the other hand, in the front-care phases, the physical loads on the lower back and upper extremities were approximately 25.6 and 34.9% lower in the case of RC than MC, respectively. These findings can quantitatively explain the effectiveness and features of a care robot to stakeholders and provide foundational research data for the development of EC robots. This study emphasizes the implementation and promotion of the dissemination, popularization, and development of care robots to fulfill formal caregiving needs.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeong-Bae Ko & Yong-Ku Kong & Kyeong-Hee Choi & Chang-Ki Lee & Hyun-Ji Keum & Jae-Soo Hong & Byeong-Hee Won, 2023. "Comparison of the Physical Care Burden on Formal Caregivers between Manual Human Care Using a Paper Diaper and Robot-Aided Care in Excretion Care," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-17, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1281-:d:1031514
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1281/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1281/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Na, Eunkyung & Jung, Yoonhyuk & Kim, Seongcheol, 2023. "How do care service managers and workers perceive care robot adoption in elderly care facilities?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yao, Qi & Hu, Chao & Zhou, Wenkai, 2024. "The impact of customer privacy concerns on service robot adoption intentions: A credence/experience service typology perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    2. Dang, Ngoc Bich & Bertrandias, Laurent, 2023. "Social robots as healing aids: How and why powerlessness influences the intention to adopt social robots," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    3. Fink, Matthias & Maresch, Daniela & Gartner, Johannes, 2023. "Programmed to do good: The categorical imperative as a key to moral behavior of social robots," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    4. Lim, Chulmin & Rowsell, Joe & Kim, Seongcheol, 2024. "Exploring killer domains to create new value: A comparative case study of Canadian and Korean telcos," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(4).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1281-:d:1031514. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.