Supporting Optimal Aging through the Innovative Use of Virtual Reality Technology

Authors

Sally Hughes, Sheridan CollegeFollow
Kathryn Warren-Norton, Sheridan CollegeFollow
Pat Spadafora, Sheridan CollegeFollow
Lia Tsotsos, Sheridan CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-28-2017

Keywords

older adults, virtual reality, social isolation, wellness, healthy aging

Abstract

Although virtual reality (VR) technology has been implemented as a tool to address the health issues of older adults, its applicability to social connectedness is underrepresented in the literature, and less is known about its efficacy in this area in contributing to overall wellness and well-being in later life. Expanding the VR possibilities beyond traditional entertainment purposes holds considerable potential for the older adult market. Technological tools have been employed in the elder health care field for many years, and cutting-edge developments such as virtual and augmented reality have begun to be used to facilitate optimal wellness in aging. Such technological advances have the potential to significantly impact one of the most important issues that older people face: social isolation and loneliness. This paper will serve as an introductory exploration of what is currently known about the use of virtual reality technology with an older cohort.

Faculty

Sheridan Research

School

)

Journal

Multimodal Technologies and Interaction

Version

Publisher's version

Peer Reviewed/Refereed Publication

yes

Funder

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) Community-College Innovation Program (CCI)

Terms of Use

Terms of Use for Works posted in SOURCE.

Copyright

© 2017 by the authors.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Original Publication Citation

Hughes, S., Warren-Norton, K., Spadafora, P., & Tsotsos, L.E. (2017). Supporting optimal aging through the innovative use of virtual reality technology. Multimodal Technologies Interaction, 1(23), 1-7. doi:10.3390/mti1040023

SOURCE Citation

Hughes, Sally; Warren-Norton, Kathryn; Spadafora, Pat; and Tsotsos, Lia, "Supporting Optimal Aging through the Innovative Use of Virtual Reality Technology" (2017). Publications and Scholarship. 33.
https://source.sheridancollege.ca/centres_elder_publ/33