Transforming aged care with virtual reality: How organisational culture impacts technology adoption and sustained uptake

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
File version

Version of Record (VoR)

Author(s)
Miller, E
Baker, S
Caldwell, GA
Wilding, R
Neves, BB
Waycott, J
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
2023
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract

Objectives: Virtual reality (VR) is not a common leisure activity in aged care, despite pilot studies demonstrating its value as a tool to combat inactivity and loneliness. This study investigated the organisational enablers and barriers to sustained uptake of VR among aged care staff and organisations, who may lack familiarity or confidence with the technology. Methods: Creative methods were adopted to co-design and develop a VR implementation toolkit tailored specifically for aged care staff. Three aged care homes in South-East Queensland participated, with 15 residents and seven staff engaging in up to four VR sessions facilitated by the research team. Participant observation of the VR sessions was complemented by interviews with aged care staff and residents. Results: Guided by Normalisation Process Theory, a reflexive thematic analysis identified four key themes: (1) Positively Appreciating the VR Experience, (2) Staff VR Champions and the Importance of Personal Use and Experimentation with VR, (3) Management Support and (4) Technical Challenges. Conclusions: Our results indicate benefits and challenges of VR use in aged care, offering valuable insights into the factors that can lead to the long-term success of VR-based leisure activities for aged care. Providing time and resources for a VR champion to experiment and learn about the technology is critical. The development of an online implementation toolkit, based on our learning from this project, also provides aged care stakeholders with the evidence-based resources needed to ensure the successful implementation of VR-based leisure programs.

Journal Title

Australasian Journal on Ageing

Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement

© 2023 The Authors. Australasian Journal on Ageing published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of AJA Inc’.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Item Access Status
Note

This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advanced online version.

Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject

Geriatrics and gerontology

Virtual and mixed reality

Clinical sciences

Health services and systems

Nursing

carers

homes for the aged

implementation toolkit

residential aged care

virtual reality

Persistent link to this record
Citation

Miller, E; Baker, S; Caldwell, GA; Wilding, R; Neves, BB; Waycott, J, Transforming aged care with virtual reality: How organisational culture impacts technology adoption and sustained uptake, Australasian Journal on Ageing, 2023

Collections