Comparison of the Physical Care Burden on Formal Caregivers between Manual Human Care Using a Paper Diaper and Robot-Aided Care in Excretion Care

Jeong-Bae Ko, Yong-Ku Kong, Kyeong-Hee Choi, Chang-Ki Lee, Hyun-Ji Keum, Jae-Soo Hong and Byeong-Hee Won ()
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Jeong-Bae Ko: Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea
Yong-Ku Kong: Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
Kyeong-Hee Choi: Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea
Chang-Ki Lee: Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea
Hyun-Ji Keum: Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea
Jae-Soo Hong: Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea
Byeong-Hee Won: Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: Although the older population has been rapidly growing, the availability of formal caregivers remains limited. Assistance provided by care robots has helped lower this burden; however, whether using a care robot while providing excretion care (EC) is quantitatively increasing or decreasing caregivers’ physical care burden has not been extensively studied. This study aimed to quantitatively compare the physical burden experienced by caregivers while providing manual excretion care (MC) using a paper diaper versus robot-aided care (RC). Ten formal caregivers voluntarily participated in the experiment. MC and RC tasks were structuralized according to phases and classified by characteristics. The experiment was conducted in a smart care space. The physical load of formal caregivers was estimated by muscular activity and subjective rating of perceived physical discomfort. The results demonstrated that although the physical load on the lower back and upper extremities during the preparation and post-care phases were greater in RC than MC, RC markedly alleviated caregivers’ physical load when performing front tasks. In the preparation-care phases, the physical loads on the lower back and upper extremities were approximately 40.2 and 39.6% higher in the case of RC than MC, respectively. Similar to the preparation-care phases, the physical loads on the lower back and upper extremities during post-care phases were approximately 39.5 and 61.7% greater in the case of RC than MC, respectively. On the other hand, in the front-care phases, the physical loads on the lower back and upper extremities were approximately 25.6 and 34.9% lower in the case of RC than MC, respectively. These findings can quantitatively explain the effectiveness and features of a care robot to stakeholders and provide foundational research data for the development of EC robots. This study emphasizes the implementation and promotion of the dissemination, popularization, and development of care robots to fulfill formal caregiving needs.

Keywords: excretion care; formal caregiver; physical care burden; manual human care; robot-aided care (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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