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Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the impact of knowledge translation (KT) on factors influencing virtual reality (VR) adoption and to identify support needs of therapists. Hypotheses: Intervention will be associated with improvements in therapists' perceived ease of use and self-efficacy, and an associated increase in intentions to use VR. Method: Single group mixed-methods pre-test–post-test evaluation of convenience sample of physical, occupational and rehabilitation therapists (n=37) from two brain injury rehabilitation centres. ADOPT-VR administered pre/post KT intervention, consisting of interactive education, clinical manual, technical and clinical support. Results: Increases in perceived ease of use (p=0.000) and self-efficacy (p=0.001), but not behavioural intention to use VR (p=0.158) were found following KT, along with decreases in the frequency of perceived barriers. Post-test changes in the frequency and nature of perceived facilitators and barriers were evident, with increased emphasis on peer influence, organisational-level supports and client factors. Additional support needs were related to clinical reasoning, treatment programme development, technology selection and troubleshooting. Conclusions: KT strategies hold potential for targeting therapists’ perceptions of low self-efficacy and ease of use of this technology. Changes in perceived barriers, facilitators and support needs at post-test demonstrated support for repeated evaluation and multi-phased training initiatives to address therapists’ needs over time.
Therapists’ learning and support needs in integrating virtual reality extend beyond technical proficiency to include clinical decision-making and application competencies spanning the entire rehabilitation process.
Phased, multi-faceted strategies may be valuable in addressing therapists’ changing needs as they progress from novice to experienced virtual reality users.
The ADOPT-VR is a sensitive measure to re-evaluate the personal, social, environmental, technology-specific and system-level factors influencing virtual reality adoption over time.
Implications for Rehabilitation
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the therapists and clients who participated in this research.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. This study was conducted in compliance with the Tri-Council Policy Statement of Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) provided funding support to the first author to conduct this research. Dr Holsti is supported by a CIHR Canada Research Chair in Neonatal Health and Development. Portions of the results described in this article were presented at the Tenth World Congress on Brain Injury in March 2014 by the first author; the abstract for this presentation was published in Brain Injury volume 28, issue 5–6 in 2014. This article reports on post-test findings of a repeated measures research design as described in the Methods section; pre-test findings were published in a manuscript entitled ‘Factors influencing therapists’ adoption of virtual reality for brain injury rehabilitation’, which appeared in Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking volume 16, issue 5, in 2013. This research represents the first author’s MSc thesis research and was conducted in partial fulfilment of her MSc degree requirements.