James W. McNally Joins the Panel for “Helping Hands”

James W. McNally of the University of Michigan & the NACDA Program on Aging, United States, has joined The 8th Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology (AGen2022) on the panel for “Helping Hands: Robotic Assistance in Supporting and Maintaining Social Interactions with Elders”.

Hee Rin Lee of Michigan State University, United States, Keith W. Miller of the University of Missouri – St. Louis, United States, and Ryuji Yamazaki-Skov of Osaka University, Japan, have also been chosen to discuss this topic. The addition of Dr McNally completes the panel.

The presentation will also be available for IAFOR Members to view online. To find out more, please visit the IAFOR Membership page.



Speaker Biography

James W. McNally
University of Michigan & NACDA Program on Aging, United States

Dr James McNally NACDA Program on Aging Gerontology

Dr James W. McNally is the Director of the NACDA Program on Aging, a data archive containing over 1,500 studies related to health and the aging lifecourse. He currently does methodological research on the improvement and enhancement of secondary research data and has been cited as an expert authority on data imputation. Dr McNally has directed the NACDA Program on Aging since 1998 and has seen the archive significantly increase its holdings with a growing collection of seminal studies on the aging lifecourse, health, retirement and international aspects of aging. He has spent much of his career addressing methodological issues with a specific focus on specialized application of incomplete or deficient data and the enhancement of secondary data for research applications. Dr McNally has also worked extensively on issues related to international aging and changing perspectives on the role of family support in the later stages of the aging lifecourse.


Abstract

Helping Hands: Robotic Assistance in Supporting and Maintaining Social Interactions with Elders

The use of robotic assistive devices in nursing homes, residential facilities, and homebound elders has rapidly increased as technology has improved. Researchers have argued that robotics will play a significant role in the coming decades. Lifelike animals provide visual and physical stimuli to impaired elders. Still, more advanced technology now allows robotics to provide communication support, reminders, and the ability to interact with family members and offer eldercare virtually. Alternatively, some care advocates have expressed concern that robotics will become a substitute for in-person interactions between elders, family members, and support networks. There are also concerns that the extensive use of robotics may negatively impact the quality of care received by the individual from residential providers. This panel will offer an authoritative discussion of the positive uses of robotics in supporting and supplementing the care of homebound, disabled, or cognitively impaired elders. While recognizing the potential risk of abuse if robotics becomes a substitute for care, the panel will emphasize how robotics can improve the emotional health of elders and best practices to ensure that robotics represents a supplemental tool to improve the overall quality of life of the older population.



Posted by IAFOR