Trial reportJournal of medical Internet research2022
Using the Social Robot NAO for Emotional Support to Children at a Pediatric Emergency Department: Randomized Clinical Trial.
Trial report in Journal of medical Internet research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04627909 (Emotional Support of a Social Robot at the Pediatric Emergency Department), which is not on this map. Cited by 17 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Emotional Support of a Social Robot at the Pediatric Emergency Department: a Randomized Clinical Trial
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Care Robots as Emerging Health Technologies: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of artificial intelligence in child and adolescent interventions: from psychotherapy to developmental support.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Socially Assistive Robots for Pain Management and Emotional Responses in Pediatric Hospital Care: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy of psychosensory interventions for the management of pediatric pain, fear, and distress during emergency care: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- The efficacy of socially assistive robots in improving children's pain and negative affectivity during needle-based invasive treatment: A systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pediatrics · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review of collaborative robots for nurses: where are we now, and where is the evidence?Frontiers in robotics and AI · 2024Pooled it
- Conversational artificial intelligence and children's social-emotional development: a scoping review.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Hospital-Based Robotic Applications in Nursing Practice: A Scoping Review.Journal of nursing scholarship : an official publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing · 2026Article
- Can social robots improve the hospital experience of children?Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Article
- Health Care Professionals' Experiences Regarding Facilitators of and Barriers to Sustained Use of Social Robot Ivy for People With Intellectual Disabilities: Qualitative Interview Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Enhancing Communication in Minimally Verbal Autistic Children: A Study on NAO-Assisted Therapy.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- The use of the social robot NAO in medical settings: how to facilitate interactions between healthcare professionals and patients with autism spectrum disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Use of automated conversational agents in improving young population mental health: a scoping review.NPJ digital medicine · 2024Article
- The Role of Coherent Robot Behavior and Embodiment in Emotion Perception and Recognition During Human-Robot Interaction: Experimental Study.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Characteristics and Admission Preferences of Pediatric Emergency Patients and Their Waiting Time Prediction Using Electronic Medical Record Data: Retrospective Comparative Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Social/dialogical roles of social robots in supporting children's learning of language and literacy-A review and analysis of innovative roles.Frontiers in robotics and AI · 2022Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSocial robots (SRs) have been used for improving anxiety in children in stressful clinical situations, such as during painful procedures. However, no studies have yet been performed to assess their effect in children while waiting for emergency room consultations.
objectiveThis study aims to assess the impact of SRs on managing stress in children waiting for an emergency room procedure through the assessment of salivary cortisol levels.
methodsThis was an open randomized clinical trial in children attending a pediatric emergency department. Children accessing the emergency room were randomized to 1 of 3 groups: (1) playing with a NAO SR, (2) playing with a study nurse, or (3) waiting with parents. The salivary cortisol levels of all children were measured through a swab. Salivary cortisol levels before and after the intervention were compared in the 3 groups. We calculated the effect size of our interventions through the Cohen d-based effect size correlation (r).
resultsA total of 109 children aged 3-10 years were enrolled in the study, and 94 (86.2%) had complete data for the analyses. Salivary cortisol levels significantly decreased more in the group exposed to robot interaction than in the other two groups (r=0.75). Cortisol levels decreased more in girls (r=0.92) than in boys (r=0.57).
conclusionsSRs are efficacious in decreasing stress in children accessing the emergency room and may be considered a tool for improving emotional perceptions of children and their families in such a critical setting.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04627909; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT04627909.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.