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A huggable device can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone for individuals with ASD

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are often not comfortable during mobile-phone conversations with unfamiliar people. “Hugvie” is a pillow with a human-like shape that has been designed to provide users with the tactile sensation of hugging another person during phone conversations to...

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Autores principales: Sumioka, Hidenobu, Kumazaki, Hirokazu, Muramatsu, Taro, Yoshikawa, Yuichiro, Ishiguro, Hiroshi, Higashida, Haruhiro, Yuhi, Teruko, Mimura, Masaru
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8301655/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34297735
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254675
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author Sumioka, Hidenobu
Kumazaki, Hirokazu
Muramatsu, Taro
Yoshikawa, Yuichiro
Ishiguro, Hiroshi
Higashida, Haruhiro
Yuhi, Teruko
Mimura, Masaru
author_facet Sumioka, Hidenobu
Kumazaki, Hirokazu
Muramatsu, Taro
Yoshikawa, Yuichiro
Ishiguro, Hiroshi
Higashida, Haruhiro
Yuhi, Teruko
Mimura, Masaru
author_sort Sumioka, Hidenobu
collection PubMed
description Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are often not comfortable during mobile-phone conversations with unfamiliar people. “Hugvie” is a pillow with a human-like shape that has been designed to provide users with the tactile sensation of hugging another person during phone conversations to promote feelings of comfort and trust in the speaker toward their conversation partners. Our primary aim was to examine whether physical contact by hugging a Hugvie could reduce the stress of speaking with an unfamiliar person on the phone in individuals with ASD. We enrolled 24 individuals and requested them to carry out phone conversations either using only a mobile phone or using a mobile phone along with the Hugvie. All participants in both groups completed questionnaires designed to evaluate their self-confidence while talking on the phone, and also provided salivary cortisol samples four times each day. Our analysis revealed that the medium of communication was a significant factor, indicating that individuals with ASD who spoke with an unfamiliar person on the phone while hugging a Hugvie had stronger self-confidence and lower stress levels than those who did not use Hugvie. Hence, we recommend that huggable devices be used as adjunctive tools to support individuals with ASD during telephonic conversations with unfamiliar people.
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spelling pubmed-83016552021-07-31 A huggable device can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone for individuals with ASD Sumioka, Hidenobu Kumazaki, Hirokazu Muramatsu, Taro Yoshikawa, Yuichiro Ishiguro, Hiroshi Higashida, Haruhiro Yuhi, Teruko Mimura, Masaru PLoS One Research Article Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are often not comfortable during mobile-phone conversations with unfamiliar people. “Hugvie” is a pillow with a human-like shape that has been designed to provide users with the tactile sensation of hugging another person during phone conversations to promote feelings of comfort and trust in the speaker toward their conversation partners. Our primary aim was to examine whether physical contact by hugging a Hugvie could reduce the stress of speaking with an unfamiliar person on the phone in individuals with ASD. We enrolled 24 individuals and requested them to carry out phone conversations either using only a mobile phone or using a mobile phone along with the Hugvie. All participants in both groups completed questionnaires designed to evaluate their self-confidence while talking on the phone, and also provided salivary cortisol samples four times each day. Our analysis revealed that the medium of communication was a significant factor, indicating that individuals with ASD who spoke with an unfamiliar person on the phone while hugging a Hugvie had stronger self-confidence and lower stress levels than those who did not use Hugvie. Hence, we recommend that huggable devices be used as adjunctive tools to support individuals with ASD during telephonic conversations with unfamiliar people. Public Library of Science 2021-07-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8301655/ /pubmed/34297735 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254675 Text en © 2021 Sumioka et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Sumioka, Hidenobu
Kumazaki, Hirokazu
Muramatsu, Taro
Yoshikawa, Yuichiro
Ishiguro, Hiroshi
Higashida, Haruhiro
Yuhi, Teruko
Mimura, Masaru
A huggable device can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone for individuals with ASD
title A huggable device can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone for individuals with ASD
title_full A huggable device can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone for individuals with ASD
title_fullStr A huggable device can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone for individuals with ASD
title_full_unstemmed A huggable device can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone for individuals with ASD
title_short A huggable device can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone for individuals with ASD
title_sort huggable device can reduce the stress of calling an unfamiliar person on the phone for individuals with asd
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8301655/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34297735
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254675
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