Socially Assistive Robots are promising in their potential to promote and support mental health in children. There is a growing number of studies investigating the feasibility and effectiveness of robot interventions in supporting children’s mental wellbeing. Although preliminary evidence suggests that Socially Assistive Robots may have the potential to help address concerns such as stress and anxiety in children, there is a need for a greater focus in examining the impact of robotic interventions in this population. In order to better understand the current state of the evidence in this field and identify critical gaps, we carried out a scoping review of the available literature examining how social robots are investigated as means to support mental health in children. We identified existing types of robot intervention and measures that are being used to investigate specific mental health outcomes. Overall, our findings suggest that robot interventions for children may positively impact mental health outcomes such as relief of distress and increase positive affect. Results also show that the strength of evidence needs to be improved to determine what types of robotic interventions could be most effective and readily implemented in pediatric mental health care. Based on our findings, we propose a set of recommendations to guide further research in this area.

社会辅助机器人有望在促进和支持儿童心理健康方面发挥潜力。越来越多的研究调查机器人干预在支持儿童心理健康方面的可行性和有效性。尽管初步证据表明，社交辅助机器人可能具有解决儿童压力和焦虑等问题的潜力，但仍需要更加关注研究机器人干预对该人群的影响。为了更好地了解该领域的证据现状并找出关键差距，我们对现有文献进行了范围界定性审查，以检查如何研究社交机器人作为支持儿童心理健康的手段。我们确定了现有的机器人干预类型和用于调查特定心理健康结果的措施。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，针对儿童的机器人干预可能会对心理健康结果产生积极影响，例如缓解痛苦并增加积极影响。结果还表明，需要确定证据的强度，以确定哪种类型的机器人干预措施在小儿精神卫生保健中最有效，最容易实施。根据我们的发现，我们提出了一系列建议，以指导该领域的进一步研究。结果还表明，需要确定证据的强度，以确定哪种类型的机器人干预措施在小儿精神卫生保健中最有效，最容易实施。根据我们的发现，我们提出了一系列建议，以指导该领域的进一步研究。结果还表明，需要确定证据的强度，以确定哪种类型的机器人干预措施在小儿精神卫生保健中最有效，最容易实施。根据我们的发现，我们提出了一系列建议，以指导该领域的进一步研究。