Non-Cochrane · intervention · PM42322312
Effectiveness of Social Robots in Relieving Children's and Adolescents' Anxiety, Pain, Fear and Stress in Perioperative Nursing: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Kauppinen Miia, Forsman Aku, Kerimaa Heli, et al. · Journal of clinical nursing · 2026 · PubMed · doi:10.1111/jocn.70411
Findings
Population Children and adolescents (0 to 21 years) undergoing surgery, dental treatment or other perioperative care
4 findings
| Social robot (socially assistive or humanoid robot) | Control (standard care or no robot) | Postoperative anxiety (Facial Image Scale) Postoperative · Paediatric dental treatment (Kasimoglu 2020, 2023) | MD -0.51 [-0.78, -0.23] Moderate Downgraded: risk of bias 2 studies · 302 participants |
| Social robot (socially assistive or humanoid robot) | Control (standard care or no robot) | Preoperative pulse rate (beats/min) Preoperative · Paediatric dental treatment (Kasimoglu 2020, 2023) | MD -2.01 [-5.73, 1.71] Very low Downgraded: risk of bias, imprecision, inconsistency 2 studies · 302 participants |
| Social robot (socially assistive or humanoid robot) | Control (standard care or no robot) | Preoperative anxiety (Facial Image Scale) Preoperative · Paediatric dental treatment (Kasimoglu 2020, 2023) | MD -0.25 [-0.53, 0.03] Low Downgraded: risk of bias, imprecision 2 studies · 302 participants |
| Social robot (socially assistive or humanoid robot) | Control (standard care or no robot) | Postoperative pulse rate (beats/min) Postoperative · Paediatric dental treatment (Kasimoglu 2020, 2023) | MD -8.41 [-11.77, -5.05] Moderate Downgraded: risk of bias 2 studies · 302 participants |
Included primary studies 7
Open in Studies| Study | Year | Also included by | Outcomes it informs here | Trial data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kasimoglu et al. 2020 Robotic approach to the reduction of dental anxiety in children. PMID:32730719 | 2020 | 2 other reviews | Preoperative anxiety (Facial Image Scale); Postoperative anxiety (Facial Image Scale); Preoperative pulse rate (beats/min); Postoperative pulse rate (beats/min) | not extracted yet |
| Beraldo et al. 2019 A preliminary investigation of using humanoid social robots as non-pharmacological techniques with children DOI:10.1109/arso46408.2019.8948760 | 2019 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Franconi et al. 2023 Preoperative anxiety management in children. Benefits of humanoid robots: an experimental study. PMID:38145215 | 2023 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Kasimoglu et al. 2023 The Impact of a Humanoid Robot on Children’s Dental Anxiety, Behavior and Salivary Amylase Levels: A Randomized Clinical Trial DOI:10.4274/jpr.galenos.2023.01979 | 2023 | this review only | Preoperative anxiety (Facial Image Scale); Postoperative anxiety (Facial Image Scale); Preoperative pulse rate (beats/min); Postoperative pulse rate (beats/min) | not extracted yet |
| Lapedriza et al. 2024 Deploying a Robotic ride-on Car in the Hospital to Reduce the Stress of Pediatric Patients before Surgery DOI:10.1145/3610978.3641081 | 2024 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Lee-Krueger et al. 2021 Children's Pain During IV Induction: A Randomized-Controlled Trial With the MEDi® Robot. PMID:33764470 | 2021 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
| Topçu et al. 2023 The effect of an interactive robot on children's post-operative anxiety, mobilization, and parents' satisfaction; randomized controlled… PMID:36437131 | 2023 | this review only | not stated | not extracted yet |
Overlap with other reviews
Reviews that include the same primary studies are not independent evidence. Shared counts match studies by PMID, DOI or NCT, and otherwise by author and year (a probable match). Only the non-Cochrane dental reviews have study lists, so overlap with Cochrane reviews is not counted yet.
Review question
| Element | Planned (methods) | Found (results) |
|---|---|---|
| Population | Children or adolescents aged 0-21 years having a surgical operation or treatment | Children and adolescents aged 3-19 years undergoing dental treatment, minor surgery or painful procedures (n=663) |
| Intervention | Social robot, socially assistive robot or humanoid robot | Humanoid robots (6 studies) and a robotic ride-on car (1 study) |
| Comparison | Control group (standard care or any other intervention) | Standard care or other distraction; one study without control group |
| Outcomes | Pain, anxiety, fear and stress | Anxiety (FIS, CSA, STAI, mYPAS, CEMS, Likert), pulse, pain (FPS-R), fear (CFS), stress (salivary alpha-amylase) |
| Study designs | RCTs and quasi-experimental studies | 4 RCTs and 3 quasi-experimental studies (n=7) |
| Timing | Not specified | Pre-, intra- and postoperative |
AMSTAR 2 items
Two independent extractors rated each item. Their ratings are shown side by side because they have not been reconciled yet. The overall rating follows Shea et al. 2017: one critical flaw gives Low, more than one gives Critically Low.
| Item | Extractor A | Extractor B | Agree |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Research question includes PICO components | Yes | Yes | yes |
| 2Protocol established before the reviewcritical | Partial Yes | Partial Yes | yes |
| 3Choice of study designs explained | No | No | yes |
| 4Comprehensive literature searchcritical | Partial Yes | Partial Yes | yes |
| 5Study selection in duplicate | Yes | Yes | yes |
| 6Data extraction in duplicate | Yes | Yes | yes |
| 7List of excluded studies with reasonscritical | No | No | yes |
| 8Included studies described in detail | Yes | Partial Yes | no |
| 9Risk of bias assessed satisfactorilycritical | RCT: Yes · NRSI: Partial Yes | RCT: Yes · NRSI: Partial Yes | yes |
| 10Funding of included studies reported | No | No | yes |
| 11Appropriate meta-analysis methodscritical | NRSI: N/A · RCT: Yes | RCT: No · NRSI: N/A | no |
| 12Impact of risk of bias on the pooled results | No | No | yes |
| 13Risk of bias accounted for in interpretationcritical | Yes | Yes | yes |
| 14Heterogeneity explained | Yes | Yes | yes |
| 15Publication bias investigatedcritical | No | No | yes |
| 16Conflicts of interest reported | Yes | Yes | yes |
| Overall | Critically Low | Critically Low | yes |