Exploring Emotional Attachment to Socially Assistive Robots: A Qualitative Study Among Older Adults

ABSTRACT

Socially assistive robots (SARs) show potential to alleviate loneliness among older adults but raise ethical risks regarding emotional attachment. While existing studies largely focus on normative frameworks, empirical insights into older adults' subjective experiences in specific cultural settings remain limited. Grounded in China's care realities, this qualitative study explored older adults' anticipated emotional attachment to SARs and the associated ethical concerns through semi‐structured, scenario‐based interviews. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's six‐phase thematic analysis. Three themes emerged: (1) anticipated and imagined emotional attachment to SARs; (2) perceived catalysts of anticipated emotional attachment, driven by loneliness, limited family support, and the projection of human‐like qualities; and (3) anticipated consequences of emotional attachment, including expected emotional support alongside concerns about family ties and autonomy. Chinese older adults expressed ambivalent expectations regarding emotional attachment to SARs. Their accounts reflected unmet emotional and caregiving needs within family‐based care norms while raising concerns about intergenerational relationships and autonomy. Future SAR implementation should ensure that robots complement rather than replace human care and preserve relational autonomy.