Study conduct
memory disorders
The study was conducted in 2021. Home care professionals assessed clients’ ability to use the robot for medication management. They proposed the robot for the clients who: (1) had regular tablet-form medication in use, (2) were able to use the robot independently, and (3) chose to use the robot voluntarily. Home care professionals didn’t propose the robot for the clients who: (1) had physical challenges, such as poor eyesight, and/or (2) had neurological challenges, such as memory disorders. The home care team leader made the final decision about receiving the robots. Robots were given to those clients in the home care region that implemented the use of the robots who the professionals thought would be able to use them as the intervention group (IG). The control group (CG) consisted of clients living in the home care region that did not implement the use of the robots for medication management but who the professionals thought would have been able to use it.The IG’s baseline periods were individually defined. For example, before the client in the IG group received a robot, a five-day baseline period was carried out. The next day after the five-day baseline period, the client started to use the robot for medication management. A common baseline period for all CG group clients was defined. The home care professionals who participated in the study made home visits to homes of both IG and CG group clients. The data were collected from April to November in 2021.The non-random allocation into the IG and the CG was made before the baseline period (five days). In this pragmatic trial, random allocation was not feasible due to ethical and logistical considerations and limitations in resources for conducting the trial. Blinding was also impossible given the nature of the intervention. Altogether 64 home care clients were allocated to the IG and 46 to the CG (Fig. 