The State Reference Center for Care for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias (CREA)based in Salamanca, has had for more than a decade ‘Nuka’, a robot that resembles a baby sealwhich has artificial intelligence and helps people who come to the facilities to receive care.
Its effects on the users of the center have been noted, as a non-pharmacological therapy, but so far these contributions have not been reflected in a study as such, something that does not happen in other countries where there are already scientific reports on this same subject. .
First study in Spain
The lack of data in an investigation in Spain will be resolved in the coming weeks with the preparation of a study, the first national one, on the use of this robot, which is internationally known as ‘Paro’ but that in Salamanca and in the rest of the country it has become known as ‘What’.
This device is the work of Japanese teacher Takanori Shibata and it has been available to CREA users for the last few years, now the objective is to complete the experience with research on paper about the positive effects it has for people with symptoms of agitation, anxiety or depression.
To do this, the Salamanca-based center will carry out this “multicenter randomized clinical trial” and will have the technical support of the Evaluation and Planning Service of the Canary Islands Health Service, as an expert in health technology evaluation, in order to assess its ” effectiveness”.