Extended Interviews with Stroke Patients Over a Long-Term Rehabilitation Using Human–Robot or Human–Computer Interactions

Socially assistive robots (SARs) have been proposed to assist post-stroke patients in performing their exercise during their rehabilitation process, with the trust in the robot identified as an important factor in human–robot interaction. In the current study, we aimed to identify and characterize factors that influence post-stroke patients’ trust in a robot-operated and a computer-operated rehabilitation platform during and after a long-term experience with the platform. We conducted 29 interviews with 16 stroke patients who underwent a long-term rehabilitation process, assisted by either a SAR or a computer interface. The intervention lasted 5–7 weeks per patient, for a total of 229 sessions over 18 months. By using a qualitative research method—extended interviews “in the wild” with stroke patients, over a long-term rehabilitation process—our study reveals users’ perspectives regarding factors affecting trust in the SAR or in the computer interface during their rehabilitation process. The results support the assertion that SARs have an added value in the rehabilitative care of stroke patients; It appears that personal characteristics, such as age and gender, have an effect on the users’ acceptance of a non-human operator as a practice assistant. Our findings support the notion that SARs augment rehabilitative therapies beyond a standard computer; Importantly, patients appreciated different aspects of the non-human operator in the two groups: In the SAR group, users preferred its functional performance over its anthropomorphized social skills; In the Computer group, users highlighted its contribution to the training of their memory skills.