How Can Pet Robots Be Embedded Into Nursing Homes as Part of Routine Dementia Care?

Background: In the last decades, pet robots have started to gain traction as a technology-based alternatives for animal-assisted therapy. Several studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of pet robots for people living with dementia, particularly in residential care settings. Despite findings of their potential to deliver psychosocial benefits for nursing home residents with dementia, the knowledge translation from research to clinical practice remains slow, and the uptake of pet robots in clinical practice remains low. The purpose of this study was to identify strategies to guide the implementation of pet robots into routine dementia care in nursing homes. Method: A preceding qualitative inquiry and a scoping review was conducted to identify determinants of implementing pet robots. To ensure that the multilevel nature of implementation was captured, the Consolidated Framework of Implementation Research (CFIR) was used to guide the conceptualisation and conduct of the both studies. Next, we identifed implementation strategies to address the identified determinants. This was done by mapping determinants to the Expert Recommendations for Implementation (ERIC), a taxonomy of 73 implementation strategies, using the CFIR-ERIC mapping tool. Findings from the preceding studies were used to contextualised the identified strategies. Finally, we consulted with key stakeholders and a Patient and Public Involvement member to further refine the list of implementation strategies. Result: Implementation determinants were mapped to all nine clusters of implementation strategies in the ERIC taxonomy. Most implementation strategies were focused on the development of stakeholder relationships, such as conducting local consensus discussions to identify the need or priority of having pet robots, training and educating stakeholders such as conducting educational meetings, and the use of evaluative and iterative strategies such as conducting a local needs assessments. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to identify implementation strategies for embedding pet robots into nursing homes for routine dementia care. Findings from this study have practical utility for clinical researchers, organisations and clinicians to guide the translation of the research on pet robots into real-world practice.