The Influence of Previous Experience on Virtual Reality Adoption in Medical Rehabilitation and Overcoming Knowledge Gaps Among Health Care Professionals : Qualitative Interview Study

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Schreiter, Melina ; Hennrich, Jasmin ; Wolf, Anna Lina ; Eymann, Torsten:
The Influence of Previous Experience on Virtual Reality Adoption in Medical Rehabilitation and Overcoming Knowledge Gaps Among Health Care Professionals : Qualitative Interview Study.
In: Journal of Medical Internet Research. Bd. 27 (2025) . - e62649.
ISSN 1438-8871
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2196/62649

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Abstract

Background: VR technologies in healthcare, particularly in medical rehabilitation, have demonstrated effectiveness by enabling patient remobilization in virtual environments, offering real time feedback, enhancing physical function and quality of life, and allowing patients to exercise autonomously. Nevertheless, integrating VR technologies into routine rehabilitative practice is facing slow adoption due to healthcare professionals' concerns regarding data security, lack of time or perceived cost. Objective: This study explores how previous experience with VR technologies influences healthcare professionals' decisions to adopt or reject these technologies in medical rehabilitation. Methods: We conducted 23 semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals from different rehabilitative fields in Germany, which we grouped into VR experienced "innovators" and non�experienced "laggards" according to their innovativeness. When analyzing the interviews, we applied qualitative content analysis techniques and revealed 56 preliminary categories from the transcripts. Results: We merged the preliminary categories into 26 adoption and rejection factors, which were grouped under the four overarching categories of Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory. In addition to the pure identification of context-specific influencing factors, we were also able to identify differences between these factors concerning two different adopter groups. VR-experienced “innovators” exhibit key characteristics such as openness to new technologies, solution-oriented thinking, and opinion leadership, while non-experienced "laggards" focusing on barriers and relying on top-down knowledge transfer. Despite these differences, both groups agreed on the factors that promote the adoption of VR technologies. Our results indicate that addressing the unique needs of both groups is crucial for wider VR acceptance in healthcare. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between VR-experienced and non-experienced healthcare professionals, providing actionable insights for developing adopterspecific communication strategies to overcome barriers and foster broader diffusion of VR technologies in the healthcare sector.