SOCIUS – Social robots promote the mental health of schoolchildren
The mental health of schoolchildren is a key component of successful learning and healthy social and emotional development. A social robot can provide support in everyday school life.
Factsheet
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Schools involved
School of Health Professions
Bern Academy of the Arts
Business School -
Institute(s)
Institute of Design Research
Nursing -
Research unit(s)
Environmental Communication Design
Knowledge Visualization
Innovation in the Field of Digital Health - Strategic thematic field Thematic field "Humane Digital Transformation"
- Funding organisation BFH
- Duration (planned) 01.04.2024 - 31.03.2026
- Head of project Prof. Dr. Friederike J.S. Thilo
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Project staff
Simone Walker
Prof. Jimmy Schmid
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Riedl
Dr. Oliver Christ
Pascale Denise Zürcher
Tanja Häusermann - Keywords Robotics, Digital transformation, Human-to-machine interaction, Mental health, Design thinking, Mind Matters
Situation
Social robots are increasingly being used in educational settings. However, there are still very few empirical studies on social robots in the field of mental health promotion in everyday school life.
Course of action
The following artefacts are being developed in an interdisciplinary, participatory and iterative manner using qualitative research methods, conceptual work and workshops: research setup, research design, prototyping and documentation methodology. The project will first develop robot roles that describe possible behaviours of social robots in a school context. Focus groups with teachers will then be conducted. The aim is to discuss and evaluate specific application scenarios for the roles developed. The aim is to determine the extent to which the various roles support everyday school life and in which situations robots can be used effectively. A particular focus is on the link to the Mind Matters programme, which promotes the mental health of schoolgirls. Social robots could serve as supportive tools for schoolgirls and teachers in this context. The focus groups examine which areas of application are suitable within the framework of ‘Mind Matters’ and which supporting functions and positive effects arise from the teachers' perspective – especially with regard to mental health and social-emotional learning. At the same time, the perceived challenges, limitations and risks of integrating such technologies into everyday school life are discussed.
Looking ahead
Through the use of robots in health promotion in a school setting, a complex context with humans at the centre is being systematically investigated. The aim is to derive appropriate interaction patterns for other settings (e.g. hospitals).
