20.500.12556/DKUM-98055 The effectiveness of artificial intelligence-based pet therapy in improving the care of patients a systematic review Animal-assisted interventions can support emotional well-being and social engagement, but their use may be limited by allergies, infection risks, and animal-handling requirements. As a scalable alternative, artificial intelligence-based pet therapy, including socially assistive and robotic pets, has been introduced in health care and community settings. This systematic review, conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines, searched PubMed, CINAHL Ultimate/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and SAGE for studies published between 2014 and 2025 that evaluated the reported effects of AI-based pet therapy on patient outcomes. Of the 584 records identified, 27 studies met the inclusion criteria after duplicate removal and screening. Most studies involved older adults with dementia, although children, veterans, and community-dwelling adults were also represented. Across studies, AI-based pet therapy was associated with reduced agitation, anxiety, stress, and pain, as well as improved mood, communication, and social engagement. PARO was the most frequently studied robotic pet, and interventions were typically delivered 1–3 times weekly for 30–60 min over 4–12 weeks. Overall, AI-based pet therapy appears to be a promising complementary non-pharmacological approach, particularly for people with dementia and hospitalized children, although stronger evidence from larger, more standardized, and longer-term studies is still needed. artificial intelligence socially assistive robots robotic pets animal-assisted therapy dementia mental health patient care umetna inteligenca socialno asistenčni roboti robotski ljubljenčki terapija s pomočjo živali demenca duševno zdravje nega bolnika true true true MDPI Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Znanstveno delo 2026-05-11 14:57:39 2026-05-12 09:17:44 2026-05-13 03:09:17 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 str. 1-24 št. 10, št. članka 4683 Letn. 16 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno apc 2026-05-06 2026-05-06 2026-05-09 004.8:615.85:613.86:616-083 277686787 10.3390/app16104683 2076-3417 applsci-16-04683.pdf applsci-16-04683.pdf 1 74A3A5FC4E81BDABFF11F6EF60627348 7e6b99fb36e5c4b3ab81fa7475474a2243267f4f2f1f247f96e0a019ba3f3707 0f12df48-4d39-11f1-9e82-00155d0001a1 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=206009 https://doi.org/10.3390/app16104683 1 09402edc-4d39-11f1-9e82-00155d0001a1 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=206008 Fakulteta za zdravstvene vede Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko 0 0 0