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

backgroundVirtual reality (VR) technologies in health care, 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, VR technologies are facing slow adoption in routine rehabilitative practice due to health care professionals' concerns regarding data security, lack of time, or perceived cost.

objectiveThis study aimed to explore how previous experience with VR technologies influences health care professionals' decisions to adopt or reject these technologies in medical rehabilitation.

methodsWe conducted 23 semistructured interviews with health care professionals from different rehabilitative fields in Germany, whom we grouped into VR-experienced "innovators" and nonexperienced "laggards" according to their level of innovativeness. When analyzing the interviews, we applied qualitative content analysis techniques and derived 56 preliminary categories from the transcripts.

resultsWe merged the preliminary categories into 26 adoption and rejection factors, which were grouped under the 4 overarching categories of the diffusion of innovation theory by Rogers. In addition to the pure identification of context-specific influencing factors, we were able to identify differences between these factors concerning the two different adopter groups. VR-experienced innovators exhibited key characteristics such as openness to new technologies, solution-oriented thinking, and opinion leadership, whereas nonexperienced laggards focused on barriers and relied 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 health care.

conclusionsThis study demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between VR-experienced and nonexperienced health care professionals, providing actionable insights for developing adopter-specific communication strategies to overcome barriers and foster broader diffusion of VR technologies in the health care sector.