Attitudes toward social robots among parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders: A questionnaire survey on a remote island in Japan

Aim This pilot study was performed to clarify parental acceptance of social robots to support children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) on a remote island in Japan. Methods Cross‐sectional analysis was performed to compare Negative Attitudes toward Robots Scale (NARS) scores of parents of children with NDDs cared for in welfare institutions and health care professionals, as well as the association between parental NARS scores, characteristics such as their own gender and age, and their children's gender and school grade. Between‐group comparisons were performed using the Kruskal–Wallis exact test. Results A total of 54 parents and 75 health care professionals participated in the study. Parents showed significantly lower NARS scores than health care professionals (median total scale, 33.5 vs. 37, respectively, p = 0.040, ε ² = 0.033). Among parents with a single child with NDDs, those whose children were in the lower grades of elementary school showed significantly lower NARS scores compared with those whose children were in others (median total scale, 31 vs. 36, respectively, p = 0.015, ε ² = 0.14). Conclusion As a pilot survey for the implementation of social robots, parents of children with NDDs had lower negative attitudes toward social robots than professionals. Parental acceptance of social robots may differ depending on the children's school grade. These findings may provide preliminary insights that could inform health care providers considering the introduction of advanced technology to address the limited availability and accessibility of medical resources in rural areas, including remote islands.