Exploring Faculty Attitudes Toward the Use of Virtual Reality within an Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) is an emerging evidence-based practice within the world of rehabilitation, with a significant body of research demonstrating the efficacy of VR as an intervention tool for occupational therapy (OT) practitioners in treating a variety of diagnoses. Researchers suggest VR as an effective tool to facilitate healthcare student education, including use in OT graduate programs. Despite this body of evidence, VR content can remain underutilized in OT student education. This capstone project sought to explore faculty perceptions toward VR classroom integration and facilitate its use in an OTD curriculum. Following a review of current literature, the capstone student created an educational intervention for faculty which consisted of written materials examining the evidence for the use of VR in the OT profession as well as hands-on VR experiences for the faculty to engage with. Various outcomes, including attitudes toward and confidence in using VR, were measured via a mixed-methods approach consisting of a pre-intervention and post-intervention interview and survey. Results indicated that the educational interventions increased faculty confidence in their knowledge of VR in higher education, comfort in integrating VR content into coursework, and anticipated integration of VR content into future coursework. These project results have implications for future attempts at integrating VR content as an evidence-based practice into educational opportunities for OT students and practitioners.