Feasibility and Acceptability of Deploying a Collaborative Service Robot in Long-Term Care: Staff Experiences

In Long-Term Care (LTC), staff members are responsible for addressing residents’ complex needs. Emerging research suggests integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled service robots can enhance staff care delivery. We aim to explore the feasibility of deploying such robots in staff’s care practice, which remains under-explored. Guided by the underpinning principles of Collaborative Action Research, we deployed an AI-enabled robot, Aether, in a group home in Canada. We included care staff and a care home manager in deployment and post-intervention focus groups to understand their experiences of having Aether in their nursing practice and care delivery. Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research informed our data collection and thematic analysis. We identified facilitators and barriers in three interconnected themes: (1) Robot Features, (2) Environmental Dynamics, and (3) Training and Staff Engagement. Implementing Aether in a care home is feasible with sufficient support to staff. Our study highlighted the imperative need for (1) structural support at individual, organizational, and macro levels for care teams using AI-enabled innovation and (2) fostering partnerships to overcome barriers and support the sustainable deployment of such innovation.