Improving Mental Health and Social Connectivity for Older Adults through Virtual Reality-Based Social Interventions

About This Grant

The United States is experiencing a public health crisis due to the prevalence of social isolation among aging individuals, the lack of access to social and mental health tools, the dramatic increase in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD), and the challenges associated with caregiving for this population.1-3 Older adults living at home are sufficiently distinct from their counterparts in senior living in socioeconomic diversity and access to enriching social networks,4 and face increased risks of social isolation and the array of associated cognitive and mental health comorbidities, including depression and anxiety.5,6 The virtual reality (VR) platform, Rendever, provides an innovative and clinically validated solution to these challenges by enabling older adults to maintain important social family relationships, engage fully with life, and reconnect with their past. The product’s approach enables members of senior living communities and others in the community (e.g., older adults living at home) to engage together in enriching virtual environments through its advanced communication and network capabilities. Our Phase I and II STTR projects have shown that the technology is not only feasible for older adults with AD/ADRD, but it is safe, easy to use, highly satisfying, and transformative for human relationships when people use it together.7,8 Until recently, Rendever has only been available to residents of senior living communities and hospice and their family members. This Commercialization Readiness Program proposal expands on our existing work to increase the viability of rapid market adoption within senior living communities, and utilize our network of enterprise care partners to bring Rendever into the home environment, where an estimated 90% of older adults prefer to stay throughout the aging process.9 We seek to connect older adults aging in place at home with those living in senior living communities, where Rendever is already used successfully, through shared VR experiences. To connect these two groups, this project will (1) refine Rendever’s long-distance communication features and implementation logistics for the individual home market, (2) conduct an initial commercial pilot of those features via two distinct B2B2C routes, and (3) rigorously test the impact of Rendever’s at-home program on social, emotional, and mental health outcomes for 250 home-dwelling older adults (MMSE 20 or higher) and their family caregivers by partnering with a national home health care provider for a randomized clinical trial. By including these populations, the project will evaluate Rendever’s impact on individuals most vulnerable to cognitive decline and social isolation and gather data to support commercialization through home care providers. Expanding Rendever into the home market can provide a new communication technology for millions facing the functional challenges of aging, ADRD, and social isolation and provide a social infrastructure for community building based on positive, shared experiences. This project will provide Rendever an evidence-based solution to improve vitality, social and mental health, and quality of life.