Facilitators and barriers to using virtual reality and augmented reality and its impact on social engagement in aged...

Increasingly more studies are being conducted on the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in aged care settings. These technologies can decrease experiences of loneliness which is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the growing interest in using VR/AR in care settings among older adults, a comprehensive review of studies examining the facilitators and barriers of adopting VR/AR in these settings is needed. This scoping review will focus on facilitators and barriers related to VR/AR in care settings among older adults, as well as the impact on social engagement and/or loneliness.

We will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology. We will search the following databases: CINHAL, Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus and Web of Science. Additional articles will be handpicked from reference lists of included articles. Inclusion criteria includes articles that focus on older adults using VR or AR in aged care settings. Our team (which includes patient and family partners, an academic nurse researcher, a clinical lead and trainees) will be involved in the search, review and analysis process.

We will be collecting data from publicly available articles for this scoping review, so ethics approval is not required. By providing a comprehensive overview of the current evidence on the strategies, facilitators, and barriers of using VR/AR in aged care settings, findings will offer insights and recommendations for future research and practice to better implement VR/AR. The results of this scoping review will be shared through conference presentations and an open-access publication in a peer-reviewed journal.