The Use of Immersive Virtual Reality in Sensory Sessions on a Specialist Dementia Unit: Service Evaluation of Feasibility and Acceptability

This service evaluation reviewed inclusion of Immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) relaxation activities as part of routine occupational therapy sensory sessions on a specialist dementia unit. Twenty-five sessions were completed over 13 wk with 14 participants. Nine participants chose to engage in multiple sessions. Feasibility was assessed through participant engagement and tolerability. Modal first session length was in the range 30 s to 2 min. This increased to over 2 min on second sessions. There was a lack of significant adverse effects measured by direct questioning, neuropsychiatric assessment before vs. after sessions and adverse incident reporting. Acceptability was assessed via structured review of user and staff feedback which noted positive experiences such as relaxation, openness to discussion, reminiscence, wider engagement and interest in future use. Further work is required to explore efficacy and use in other settings.