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This study investigates the conversational dynamics during robot-delivered individual cognitive stimulation therapy (iCST) for individuals with dementia, utilizing the Co-STAR system over one week with eight participants. Key findings reveal that personalized prompts enhance engagement metrics such as response duration and self-referential language, while cognitive fatigue manifests as reduced verbal output in later sessions. Additionally, initial conversational metrics correlate with long-term participation, indicating that both prompt customization and participant characteristics significantly influence engagement in therapeutic contexts.
Personalized prompts in robot therapy sessions can boost engagement and mitigate cognitive fatigue in dementia care.
Social robots offer a promising means of supporting cognitive therapies for dementia care by guiding structured conversation and therapeutic activities. However, little is known about the conversational dynamics that emerge during robot-delivered cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) sessions. This study analysed the interaction patterns from robot-delivered individual CST (iCST) sessions conducted with people living with dementia in home settings. Our Co-STAR (Cognitive Stimulation Therapy by an Autonomous Robot) system was deployed in the homes of eight PwDs for one week, who completed 30-minute sessions. Conversational metrics, including words per turn, speech production rate, response duration, response latency, and self-referential language, were analysed to examine how conversational engagement is shaped by prompt personalisation, interaction phase, and participant characteristics. The findings highlight three key interactional properties of robot-delivered iCST. First, personalised prompts significantly increase response duration, self-referential language, and overall engagement compared to generic prompts. Second, conversational behaviour changes within sessions, with a reduction in the verbal output and autobiographical engagement observed during later interaction phases, which suggests cognitive fatigue. Third, first-session conversational metrics were associated with long-term participation, while living situation influenced conversational engagement patterns. These findings provide empirical insights into the factors that shape conversational engagement in robot-delivered iCST. They inform the design of adaptive conversational robots for dementia therapy.
