Biography

Liviu P. Dinu is full professor at University of Bucharest, Computer Science Department, director of Computer Science Doctoral School, director of Human Language Technologies Research Center. His main research is in Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing (including themes like language similarity, computational historical linguistics, computational mental health analysis, computational stylometry, application in psychology, etc). Solomon Marcus was his PhD supervisor (obtained in 2003), and in 2014 he defended his habilitation thesis (Similarity and Decision Problems in Computational Linguistics). In 2007 he received Grigore C. Moisil Prize, awarded by the Romanian Academy (for 2005). He has published 2 books, 8 chapters in books, over 180 papers in journals and conferences proceedings, has initiated and managed a number of 16 national and international R&D projects and was involved in other 14 R&D projects. He has also initiated in 2020 a master program in Natural Language Processing at University of Bucharest.

Abstract

In recent years, the prevalence of mental health disorders, particularly depression, has garnered considerable attention from researchers in computation linguistics and psychology. This study aims to investigate the linguistic markers of depression by analyzing social media discourse, with a focus on understanding how individuals express symptoms of depression in their online communications. Using data posted on social media, we conducted a comprehensive part-of-speech analysis to identify specific linguistic features that differentiate individuals with depression from their non-depressed counterparts. Our method involves extracting and analyzing discourse from posts made by users identified as depressed and non-depressed by their mention of diagnosis. We focused on the frequency of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, personal pronouns, and verbs as key indicators of psychological states. Statistical comparisons were conducted to evaluate the significance of the differences observed between the two groups. Our findings revealed significant differences in the language used by depressed individuals, highlighting an increased use of the personal pronoun "I" as well as a greater prevalence of past tense verbs—indicative of rumination. These results align with existing psychological literature, thereby reinforcing the notion that social media language can serve as a vital indicator of mental health status. In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into the linguistic characteristics of depression on social media platforms, underscoring the potential for developing advanced computational models for mental health monitoring. By enhancing our understanding of how individuals with depression communicate online, we can inform both clinical practices and automated tools aimed at early detection and intervention in mental health issues.

Biography

Hanae Ono is an Associate Professor at the Professional University of Arts, Culture and Tourism and a Senior Research Fellow at RCAST, the University of Tokyo. She specializes in arts education programs and cultural policy, holding a Ph.D. (Academic). Her research focuses on accessibility in theater and the development of competency indicators for grassroots practitioners working on social inclusion and well-being.

Abstract

In Japan, the number of socially isolated youth, including those experiencing hikikomori (prolonged social withdrawal), has been increasing. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2023), approximately 1.46 million people nationwide are in a state of hikikomori, many of whom lack access to adequate support. Contributing factors include school absenteeism, family issues, employment difficulties, and mental health challenges. Public support alone is often insufficient, and stigma creates additional barriers to help-seeking. In response, the Japanese government has promoted a “Community-Based Society” initiative. However, formal support systems alone may be insufficient to build trust, and increasing attention is being paid to informal, relationship-based support rooted in local communities.

This study examines how such informal support contributes to social reconnection and well-being, focusing on a community organization called the Grassroots Mutual Support Project (Kusanone Sasaeai Project) in Nagoya. The organization emphasizes “relationships over expertise” and creates spaces for youth to reconnect with society through flexible and everyday interactions. A key initiative is the Nagoya City Comprehensive Consultation Center for Children and Youth, where “Yorisoi Supporters” — local volunteers — build trust not through professional counseling, but through shared daily experiences. These interactions allow young people to feel seen, accepted, and gradually empowered to take steps toward reintegration.

A crucial element of this support model is narrative practice. While Marshall Ganz’s concept of “public narrative,” developed in the field of community organizing, encourages individuals to share their personal stories to inspire collective action, the Japanese approach centers on empathetic listening and adaptive storytelling. In this model, stories are reshaped in response to the listener, fostering empathy and connection. This narrative practice makes support more accessible and inclusive, helping to create trusting and sustainable environments for social inclusion.

Biography

Takaki Shimura is a pioneering figure in biomedical engineering with a distinguished career spanning decades in both industry and academia. He graduated from Tokai University in 1965 with a degree in Atomic Industry. From 1965 to 2000, he worked in research and development at Fujitsu Ltd. and Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. His early work (1965–1979) focused on innovations such as fault location diagnosis methods for digital circuits, the Shinkansen passenger automatic guidance system, and laser printer technology. Between 1979 and 2000, his research shifted toward medical technologies, including the development of ultrasound imaging systems, X-ray imaging using flat panel detectors, and remote healthcare systems utilizing television.

Abstract

Background: Research on treatment techniques for dementia is shifting from Dementia to MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment). Specifically, drugs such as Lecanemab and Donanemab have emerged to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, recent international conferences have presented research reports on preventive therapies for dementia prior to MCI.

Objectives: Overview various therapies in the preclinical stage before MCI and WHO’s Risk Factors for Dementia. Furthermore, discuss the advantages of CKPT in evaluating the effectiveness of those therapies.

Methods: Using samples from the CKPT, I will introduce what kind of test it is. Next, I will use the prototype English version of CKPT to deepen understanding.

Results: To demonstrate the effectiveness of CKPT, I applied CKPT to individuals aged 60 and over in the preclinical stage, showing the reality that as the age of those who claim 'I am healthy' progresses, their claims increasingly diverge from the actual state.

Conclusion: An overview of the research on therapies aimed at preventing dementia targeting stages prior to MCI was provided. Furthermore, it demonstrated that the neuropsychological test CKPT is effective as a method for evaluating the effects of these therapies.

Biography

Anca Dinu is Assistant Professor at the University of Bucharest, Faculty Foreign Languages and Literatures and director of The Digital Humanities Research Centre, University of Bucharest. Her main research interests are Digital Humanities, NLP, formal and distributional semantics, and corpus linguistics. She obtained her PhD in Informatics in 2011, under the supervision of Solomon Marcus. She authored the book “A computational perspective on natural language semantics”, co-edited three conference volumes, translated four books (from Italian to Romanian) and written alone or with collaborators over 60 peer-reviewed articles. She has participated in 17 national and international research projects. She is the initiator and Chair of Recent Advances in Digital Humanities conference series. She also initiated and currently coordinates the Digital Humanities master program at the University of Bucharest, for which she has received the “University of Bucharest prize for the most innovative program” award in 2019.

Abstract

Social media is a vast source of unstructured text, including data that could help in early detection and classification of mantal illnesses. Transformer models can efficiently analyze such data.

Our main RQ are: if and to what extent it is possible to detect and classify mental illnesses from general texts, rather than from texts from mental health support groups; if some mental illnesses are more difficult to detect and classify than others; if detection and classification may rely on posts only, rather than individuals.

We experimented with SMHD mental health conditions dataset from Reddit, which contains general discussion texts grouped on users and illnesses. Individuals were tagged with a mental illness by self-reports in the dedicated support groups. The dataset contains nine illnesses from the psychiatric taxonomy DSM-5 disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorders, feeding and eating disorders, trauma/stress, autism, and neurodevelopmental disorders. The dataset contains a control group of individuals who have no posts in the support groups. The texts do not contain terms related to mental health.

We extracted the discriminating features for each illness group from a part of the dataset, using a Naïve Bayes classifier. We performed automatic classification between each diagnosed group and the control one, training 3 models with transformer architecture (BERT, RoBERTa, XLNET). We obtained state-of-the-art results (table1).

There were significant differences in the classification performance between the nine illnesses. The highest F1 scores were obtained for eating disorders and PTSD, followed by OCD and BPD, based on their powerful discriminant features. Depression classification scored the lowest F1, which indicates that depression is the hardest to identify in linguistic acts.

We proved that discriminative features combined with transformer models boost the performance of mental illnesses classification, and that classification of mental illnesses on general texts and on posts alone is feasible.

Biography

Cindy Ann Smith, PHD serves as Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Educational Psychology in the School of Education, Curtin University. She has extensive experience conducting research regarding educational and behavioral outcomes of children with disabilities, including children who have experienced trauma. She is particularly interested in the research areas of mentoring as an intervention for adolescents, gender equity, and cross-cultural understandings. Cindy has taught and conducted research at universities in three countries and currently collaborates extensively with international partners.

Abstract

Each year thousands of international students are enrolled in Australian universities. These universities have a duty of care to ensure that international students who are studying far from home are in a safe and supportive environment which promotes effective learning and emotional well-being. This paper reports on an environmental scan investigating the support needs of international students as well as the strengths which international students bring to university. Through a series of focus groups, we sought to listen to the voices of international students. The data was analysed thematically to provide a better understanding of needs of this unique population of students to develop a pilot intervention to support the students’ emotional and learning needs. Results include an increased understanding of the complexities of international students’ experiences and help to break through stereotypes to better understand the nuanced needs of students who bring with them different cultural norms, educational backgrounds and familial expectations. The paper will provide details of the study results, as well as the next steps of the intervention pilot. Discussion of the findings and study limitations will be included.

Biography

Ernst Meier, MSc MA, psychologist, psychotherapist, emergency psychologist. MA in languages, Mississippi State University, USA 1977 - MSc in psychology, social and preventive medicine. Univ. of Zurich, Switzerland 1996. Sabbatical at the Univ. of Queensland AUS 1997. Prevention and crisis intervention work. In private practice as psychological psychotherapist. In a music-therapeutic Balint supervision group. Musician: dulcimer, alphorn, overtone singing.

Abstract

The alphorn, a 3.7m long wind instrument and former working tool of the rural peasants from the European Alps with its unique natural tone series creates echo, resonance and flow. These phenomena have effects on nature, animals and human beings. Plants react to the kind and type of tone and animals are attracted to sound. And human beings resonate, often on a deeper unconscious level.

Resonance in psychotherapy is crucial for change and empowerment, initiates new thinking patterns, allows new correcting experience, and reaches hidden healing resources.

This presentation is about resonance phenomena as a source and its effects in psychotherapy. It transcends the approach of pure knowledge by tapping unconscious layers; therefore, enlarging the possibilities of evoking change.

Resonance effects are used in various interventions and clinical fields: psychosomatic medicine, psychiatry and psychotherapy and supervision, using tools from hypnosis, resonance and flow theory, resource therapy, bonding and body therapy. Such effects are applied to various disorders such as: speech, emotional, bipolar, stress, pain, sleep and addiction.

Central elements will be: Life demonstrations with two alphorns combined with background on the phenomena, with case studies and workshop elements.

The scientific background of the various fields focuses on the research of clinical hypnosis, M.Erickson - ‘resonance’: Rosa - ‘flow’: Csikszcentmihalyi - ‘music’ Berendt. Newer approaches however on the combination of various receptive fields call for more crossover-field research.

Workshop objectives: Participants will be sensitized for

• resonance and flow phenomena

• empowerment with more insight into various forms of initiating change

• understanding more about the unconscious resources and innovative crossover treatment models in mental health, therapy and supervision

Conclusion: The combining of the various fields is a powerful source in mental health and therapy and and calls for further exploration also in the cultural field. Your feedback is welcomed.

Biography

Martina Jonitz, med pract, physician, psychologist and child- and adolescent psychiatrist. Studies of psychology: Konstanz and medicine: Heidelberg, Germany 1992. Private practice since 2001. Training: CBT, family and hypnosis therapy. Experience in Zapchen, Taketina and other forms of making music: piano, alphorn, overtone-singing.

Abstract

The alphorn, a 3.7m long wind instrument and former working tool of the rural peasants from the European Alps with its unique natural tone series creates echo, resonance and flow. These phenomena have effects on nature, animals and human beings. Plants react to the kind and type of tone and animals are attracted to sound. And human beings resonate, often on a deeper unconscious level.

Resonance in psychotherapy is crucial for change and empowerment, initiates new thinking patterns, allows new correcting experience, and reaches hidden healing resources.

This presentation is about resonance phenomena as a source and its effects in psychotherapy. It transcends the approach of pure knowledge by tapping unconscious layers; therefore, enlarging the possibilities of evoking change.

Resonance effects are used in various interventions and clinical fields: psychosomatic medicine, psychiatry and psychotherapy and supervision, using tools from hypnosis, resonance and flow theory, resource therapy, bonding and body therapy. Such effects are applied to various disorders such as: speech, emotional, bipolar, stress, pain, sleep and addiction.

Central elements will be: Life demonstrations with two alphorns combined with background on the phenomena, with case studies and workshop elements.

The scientific background of the various fields focuses on the research of clinical hypnosis, M.Erickson - ‘resonance’: Rosa - ‘flow’: Csikszcentmihalyi - ‘music’ Berendt. Newer approaches however on the combination of various receptive fields call for more crossover-field research.

Workshop objectives: Participants will be sensitized for

• resonance and flow phenomena

• empowerment with more insight into various forms of initiating change

• understanding more about the unconscious resources and innovative crossover treatment models in mental health, therapy and supervision

Conclusion: The combining of the various fields is a powerful source in mental health and therapy and and calls for further exploration also in the cultural field. Your feedback is welcomed.

Biography

Jasmin Fyfe is a PHD candidate at Curtin University. Her research interests include effective training of teachers in research-based methods. Jasmin is an experienced educator with a special interest in promoting high quality behaviour analytic intervention in primary education settings for children with developmental disability. Jasmin has a Bachelor of Psychology and a Masters of Applied Behaviour Analysis.

Abstract

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) often experience difficulties in mainstream classrooms due to deficits in communication and social skills. This can lead to difficulty in relationship development with both teachers and peers, resulting in bullying, increased levels of anxiety, social isolation and school refusal. This paper reports on a pilot study which utilizes Motivational Interviewing to support preadolescents with ASD as a strength-based intervention to support mental well-being, social skill development and improve academic engagement. This intervention focuses on the students’ interests and goals to allow them to develop the autonomy and social skills needed to interact effectively with peers and adults. Not only does this lead to positive social outcomes but it also supports the development of greater self-sufficiency, which will be essential as they progress towards adulthood. Initially termed by Miller (1983), Motivational Interviewing (MI) is based upon the principles of social psychology and has been successfully used for many years to support adult behavior change (Markland, Ryan, Tobin, & Rollnick, 2005). Utilizing the theoretical foundations of traditional motivational interviewing, the Motivational Interviewing Mentoring Program (MIMP) was developed to provide a proactive, strength-based intervention to help students set goals, develop specific skills, and improve their performance in ways that are important to them (McQuillin, Lyons, Becker, Hart, & Cohen, 2019). In this study, MIMP has been adapted with the permission of the authors to support preadolescent students with ASD as a strength based, student centered intervention allowing the preadolescents to develop an increased understanding of their goals, motivations, and ability to act upon these same goals and motivations. The mixed method study uses both quantitative and qualitative data to measure outcomes. The paper will report these outcomes and discuss future research directions as well as limitations of the study.

Biography

Cindy Ann Smith, PHD serves as Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Educational Psychology in the School of Education, Curtin University. She has extensive experience conducting research regarding educational and behavioral outcomes of children with disabilities, including children who have experienced trauma. She is particularly interested in the research areas of mentoring as an intervention for adolescents, gender equity, and cross-cultural understandings. Cindy has taught and conducted research at universities in three countries and currently collaborates extensively with international partners.

Abstract

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) often experience difficulties in mainstream classrooms due to deficits in communication and social skills. This can lead to difficulty in relationship development with both teachers and peers, resulting in bullying, increased levels of anxiety, social isolation and school refusal. This paper reports on a pilot study which utilizes Motivational Interviewing to support preadolescents with ASD as a strength-based intervention to support mental well-being, social skill development and improve academic engagement. This intervention focuses on the students’ interests and goals to allow them to develop the autonomy and social skills needed to interact effectively with peers and adults. Not only does this lead to positive social outcomes but it also supports the development of greater self-sufficiency, which will be essential as they progress towards adulthood. Initially termed by Miller (1983), Motivational Interviewing (MI) is based upon the principles of social psychology and has been successfully used for many years to support adult behavior change (Markland, Ryan, Tobin, & Rollnick, 2005). Utilizing the theoretical foundations of traditional motivational interviewing, the Motivational Interviewing Mentoring Program (MIMP) was developed to provide a proactive, strength-based intervention to help students set goals, develop specific skills, and improve their performance in ways that are important to them (McQuillin, Lyons, Becker, Hart, & Cohen, 2019). In this study, MIMP has been adapted with the permission of the authors to support preadolescent students with ASD as a strength based, student centered intervention allowing the preadolescents to develop an increased understanding of their goals, motivations, and ability to act upon these same goals and motivations. The mixed method study uses both quantitative and qualitative data to measure outcomes. The paper will report these outcomes and discuss future research directions as well as limitations of the study.

Biography

Courtenay Young is a UK psychotherapist of 40+ years standing, registered with the UKCP (of which he is currently a Trustee) and the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP), of which he has been a Board Member for 30 years, and the Editor of their International Journal of Psychotherapy (since 2011).  He has published two books, several edited books and many published journal articles.  His special interests are body-oriented psychotherapy, short-term effective psychotherapy, and working with people in spiritual crises and emergencies.  He lives near Edinburgh in Scotland.

Abstract

Psychotherapy is not a mental health / quasi-medical treatment; it is more of a (soft-revolutionary) psycho-social exploration.  There is a common mistake (by health ministries in different countries) in classifying psychotherapy within the "medical model".  

The basis of my talk is that the professional competences of a psychotherapist, in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO), is a sub-set within the classification of a psychologist (2634).  This is listed under Legal, Social and Cultural Professionals (26) [rather than within Health Professionals. The significance and immediacy of this point is that the ISCO classifications get adjusted every 20 years and the next adjustment is due in 2028.  Professional psychotherapy associations across the world therefore need to act quickly within their own countries and internationally. In Europe, we have established that a ‘Psychotherapist’ has a significantly different set of Core Competences from a Psychologist and therefore is a distinct profession.  I quote the (new) ESCO description: Psychotherapists assist and treat healthcare users with varying degrees of psychological, psychosocial, or psychosomatic behavioural disorders and pathogenic conditions by means of psychotherapeutic methods.  They promote personal development and well-being and provide advice on improving relationships, capabilities, and problem-solving techniques.  They use science-based psychotherapeutic methods such as behavioural therapy, existential analysis and logotherapy, psychoanalysis or systemic family therapy in order to guide the patients in their development and help them search for appropriate solutions to their problems.  Psychotherapists are not required to have academic degrees in psychology or a medical qualification in psychiatry.  It is an independent occupation from psychology, psychiatry, and counselling.

I will describe these Core Competences, demonstrating how these fall with a psychosocial, mental health and well-being perspective, as well as describing the rest of the Project.  For a fuller description of these professional competences, see www.psychotherapy-competence.eu. Abstract should give clear indication of the objectives, scope, results, methods used, and conclusion of your work. One figure and one table can be included in your results and discussions.

Biography

Jermin is a registered social worker in both New Zealand and the Philippines and have been specializing in mental health counseling and therapy for almost seven years. At age 18, he was certified by the Philippine Civil Service Commission as a Professional Civil Servant and became a registered social worker at age 20. He represented the Philippines in various international youth leadership congress like ASEAN Future Leader’s Summit in University Sains Malaysia and International Social Work Conference in University of Hong Kong. He worked as a case manager in the Philippine Government for three years and practiced clinical social work in California, USA before he moved to New Zealand. He currently works as a clinical social worker and his expertise includes PTSD, anxiety, depression, men’s health, and neurodiversity. 

Abstract

I would want to share my practice in New Zealand as a clinical social worker to the delegates of Asia-Pacific Mental Health and Well-Being Conference. Below is my own summary application of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) that I use with my clients. I am happy to share outcomes of this therapy approach in the stage.

Cognitive Defusion: Stop taking negative thoughts literally- cognitive defusion is when we learn how to change our relationship with our thoughts, instead of changing the thoughts, which is most of the time hard, if not impossible to do. Recognizing that negative thoughts are just mental events and not necessarily true hence, we should not fully attach ourselves to them and not allow them to dictate and limit our lives. -          Acceptance: How to tolerate unpleasant feelings- acceptance is the anecdote of experiential avoidance that precludes us from doing the things that are meaningful to us because of the fear of the negative feelings or consequences that we may experience in achieving these things (fear of going out of our comfort zones, the feeling of pain/discomfort when we apply for a promotion, change careers, marriage, pursuing a romantic relationship, moving houses, having children, etc.). Acceptance is allowing ourselves to be fluid, to feel all the emotions and feelings, both good and bad, positive and negative, comfortable and uncomfortable and acknowledging that this is normal, and we should not be letting these natural feelings hinder us from doing the things that give us a sense of fulfilment. -        Being Present: How to take back control of your behavior- being present in the here and now instead of living in the past or projecting to the future. The past and the future thinking leads to human suffering because when we focus our mind on the things that have already happened or what is going to happen, it makes us feel worried and anxious, and we miss what is happening around and in front of us in the moment. Self as context: How to cultivate your sense of self- this is the core process of ACT that I love the most. Learning how to accept, watch, observe, and just experience the moment, whether good or bad, rather than labeling it if it is good or bad. I always share with my clients the importance of knowing the difference between our self as content and self as context. Self as content is the part of us that we label and identify based on our life’s experiences, but self as context is the part of us that has always been there in the most difficult moments of our lives but will always remain whole and intact. Self as context reminds us that it is okay to take risks and be uncomfortable in achieving the things that are meaningful to us, and no matter the outcome is going to be, we always have our safe base that we could always return to.  Values and Committed Action: Achieve Lasting Self-Fulfilment- learning the importance of rooting our goals with core values and trying to achieve eudaimonic (purpose and meaning) happiness more than hedonic (pleasure and enjoyment) happiness. Acknowledging that living a meaningful life does not always give us good feelings all the time, but we will still pursue a meaningful life based on our core values and committed actions even when distressing feelings are present (and/or acknowledging that these distressing feelings may always be present).

Biography

Biography

Dr. Therecia Mae S. Chavez completed her residency training at the National Center for Mental Health where she served as an assistant chief resident during her year as a senior resident. Dr. Chavez is also a Diplomate of the Philippine Psychiatric Association, having successfully passed both the written and oral examinations given by the Specialty Board of Philippine Psychiatry. of the Diplomate Board in Psychiatry. This achievement reflects her commitment to maintaining the highest standards of care and her dedication to continuous learning in the field of mental health.

Abstract

The study's main objective was to examine the link between perceived social support, individual predictors, and mental health outcomes, such as depression, anxiety, and stress, among nurses, psychiatry residents, and consultants working at the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH). Since their jobs are quite demanding and can significantly impact their mental well-being, it is essential to understand these associations to identify interventions supporting this vital workforce. A total of 257 individuals participated in a survey that used both paper-based and online questionnaires to measure perceived social support using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and mental health outcomes using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The cross-sectional survey investigated the relationship between perceived social support, individual predictors such as COVID-19 infection and marital status, and mental health outcomes. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine these associations measured at 95%

confidence interval. This study found that the levels of perceived social support significantly affect the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress among nurses and psychiatry residents and consultants of the NCMH. This study concludes that perceived social support, especially from significant others and friends, plays a crucial role in mitigating severe mental health issues among healthcare professionals. Tailored mental health interventions should focus on enhancing support from significant others and peers, addressing chronic health conditions, and providing targeted support for those affected by COVID-19. These strategies promote mental resilience and well-being in this critical workforce.

Biography

Dr. James Patrick Moon holds a Master of Health Sciences and a Bachelor of Medicine, Obstetrics, and Surgery from University College Dublin. With over a decade of experience in psychiatry, Dr. Moon has dedicated his career to advancing mental health care and fostering patient well-being. His clinical practice is complemented by a strong interest in integrating technology within psychiatry. 

Abstract

Aims: Socially assistive robots (SARs) are designed to interact closely with people, providing services while emulating human behavior to facilitate interpersonal communication and enhance the caregiving experience. As the aging population increases, particularly among older adults aged 65 and up, understanding caregivers' perspectives on the acceptability and effectiveness of SARs becomes crucial. This systematic review synthesizes qualitative findings from various studies exploring caregivers' views on SARs in elder care, focusing on their acceptability, perceived benefits, and concerns.

Methods: A qualitative systematic literature review was conducted, systematically searching electronic databases, including Medline, Embase, and CINAHL, along with Google Scholar and secondary sources. Eligible studies included experiences of informal and formal caregivers of older adults aged 65 and up with or without mild cognitive impairment or dementia, utilized qualitative methodologies, and were published in English. The retrieved papers underwent quality assessment, and thematic analysis was employed to synthesize the findings.

Results: Twelve studies involving 200 caregivers were included, revealing diverse caregiver types, including family caregivers of individuals with dementia and professional caregivers in aged care settings. Positive findings highlighted SARs' potential to enhance safety through monitoring, provide companionship, reduce caregiver burden, and engage older adults in meaningful activities. Conversely, concerns included potential dependency on SARs, technological complexity, cultural disconnect, and stigma associated with using robots in elder care.

Conclusion: The review indicates a generally positive outlook among caregivers towards SARs, recognizing their potential benefits. However, concerns regarding dependency, technological challenges, and emotional disconnect must be addressed for effective implementation. Involving caregivers in the design and training of SARs is essential to align technology with their needs and enhance acceptance in caregiving contexts. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies to assess the long-term impact of SARs on caregiver and recipient well-being.