TY - JOUR
T1 - Reducing Loneliness Among Aging Adults
T2 - The Roles of Personal Voice Assistants and Anthropomorphic Interactions
AU - Jones, Valerie K.
AU - Hanus, Michael
AU - Yan, Changmin
AU - Shade, Marcia Y.
AU - Blaskewicz Boron, Julie
AU - Maschieri Bicudo, Rafael
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the residents of the assisted living community for their participation, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for the funding, and graduate student Rafael Maschieri Bicudo for his excellent assistance.
Funding Information:
Funding for this study was provided by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln Layman Award.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 Jones, Hanus, Yan, Shade, Blaskewicz Boron and Maschieri Bicudo.
PY - 2021/12/10
Y1 - 2021/12/10
N2 - The perception of feeling lonely is an influential factor in determining quality of life among aging adults. As the US Census Bureau projects that the number of Americans ages 65 and older will double by 2060, reducing loneliness is imperative. Personal voice assistants (PVAs) such as Amazon's Echo offer the ease-of-use of voice control with a friendly, helpful artificial intelligence. This study aimed to understand the influence of a PVA on loneliness reduction among adults of advanced ages, i.e., 75+, and explore anthropomorphism as a potential underlying mechanism. Participants (N = 16) ages 75 or older used an Amazon Echo PVA for 8 weeks in an independent living facility in the Midwest. Surveys were used to collect information about perceived loneliness, and PVA interaction data was recorded and analyzed. Participants consistently exceeded the required daily interactions. As hypothesized, after the first 4 weeks of the intervention, aging adults reported significantly lower loneliness (baseline mean = 2.22, SD = 0.42; week 4 mean = 1.99, SD = 0.45, Z = −2.45, and p = 0.01). Four dominant anthropomorphic themes emerged after thematic analysis of the entire 8 weeks' PVA interaction data (Cohen's Kappa = 0.92): (1) greetings (user-initiated, friendly phrases); (2) comments/questions (user-initiated, second-person pronoun), (3) polite interactions (user-initiated, direct-name friendly requests), (4) reaction (user response to Alexa). Relational greetings predicted loneliness reductions in the first 4 weeks and baseline loneliness predicted relational greetings with the PVA during the entire 8 weeks, suggesting that anthropomorphization of PVAs may play a role in mitigating loneliness in aging adults.
AB - The perception of feeling lonely is an influential factor in determining quality of life among aging adults. As the US Census Bureau projects that the number of Americans ages 65 and older will double by 2060, reducing loneliness is imperative. Personal voice assistants (PVAs) such as Amazon's Echo offer the ease-of-use of voice control with a friendly, helpful artificial intelligence. This study aimed to understand the influence of a PVA on loneliness reduction among adults of advanced ages, i.e., 75+, and explore anthropomorphism as a potential underlying mechanism. Participants (N = 16) ages 75 or older used an Amazon Echo PVA for 8 weeks in an independent living facility in the Midwest. Surveys were used to collect information about perceived loneliness, and PVA interaction data was recorded and analyzed. Participants consistently exceeded the required daily interactions. As hypothesized, after the first 4 weeks of the intervention, aging adults reported significantly lower loneliness (baseline mean = 2.22, SD = 0.42; week 4 mean = 1.99, SD = 0.45, Z = −2.45, and p = 0.01). Four dominant anthropomorphic themes emerged after thematic analysis of the entire 8 weeks' PVA interaction data (Cohen's Kappa = 0.92): (1) greetings (user-initiated, friendly phrases); (2) comments/questions (user-initiated, second-person pronoun), (3) polite interactions (user-initiated, direct-name friendly requests), (4) reaction (user response to Alexa). Relational greetings predicted loneliness reductions in the first 4 weeks and baseline loneliness predicted relational greetings with the PVA during the entire 8 weeks, suggesting that anthropomorphization of PVAs may play a role in mitigating loneliness in aging adults.
KW - Amazon Alexa
KW - aging
KW - anthropomorphism
KW - artificial intelligence
KW - conversational agent
KW - gerontology
KW - loneliness
KW - personal voice assistant
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121796425&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85121796425&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpubh.2021.750736
DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2021.750736
M3 - Article
C2 - 34957013
AN - SCOPUS:85121796425
SN - 2296-2565
VL - 9
JO - Frontiers in Public Health
JF - Frontiers in Public Health
M1 - 750736
ER -