Solution-Focused Embodied Conversational Agent for Older Adults

Social isolation among older adults is a global concern, and socially assistive robots are increasingly explored as companions to support mental well-being. Users’ impressions can strongly influence psychological outcomes. Building on Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, which suggests that older adults prioritize emotionally meaningful goals, this study examined the effectiveness of a solution-focused approach (SFA), which emphasizes positive information, compared with a problem-focused approach (PFA), which focuses on negative information, and explored the influence of embodied conversational agent (ECA) impressions. We implemented the ECA on a humanoid social robot. The SFA-based robot-mediated interaction did not significantly improve mental health as measured by the K10, although perceived robot intelligence correlated with outcomes. Our findings highlight that perceived intelligence—rather than conversational framework—plays a key role in influencing mental-health outcomes in older adults.