A critical reflection of an intergenerational, student-led team bringing social robots and research to older adults in the community

Abstract

Knowledge translation and exchange to promote the health and well-being of older adults requires collaborative relationships between researchers and knowledge users. Students are uniquely positioned to engage with the community and bridge these science-practice gaps. In this paper, we highlight key lessons learned from our interdisciplinary and intergenerational team's critical reflections on our experiences and learnings bringing the LOVOT social robot to engagement sessions with older adults in our community. Our critical reflection process followed the reflection framework by Rolfe et al. (2001), guided by three questions: (1) "What?", (2) "So what?," and (3) "Now what?" We conducted thematic analysis on our collective reflections. Three key learnings emerged from our critical reflections: (1) the values of meaningful interactions between older adults in our community and our team; (2) the diversity of backgrounds and perspectives of older adults in our community; and (3) factors that supported or challenged our community engagement sessions. We conclude with six recommendations for future student-led community engagement sessions.