Interests of nursing homes residents with dementia for virtual reality‐based leisure activities: A cross‐sectional pilot study

Background A lack of resources in nursing homes can lead to standardized (leisure) activities for residents because of insufficient tailoring of individual interests. Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to provide enjoyable leisure activities for positive outcomes like well‐being. This study explores past and possible future interests of nursing home residents with dementia for the development of VR‐based (leisure) activities. Method This cross‐sectional pilot study, a first step in a mixed‐methods project, used a standardized questionnaire based on the Modified Interest Checklist – Diverse Learners. In total, seven residents with mild dementia from one rural Austrian nursing home participated in the study in February 2020. Result The residents were mainly female (57%), on average 82 years old and partially care dependent. The most‐mentioned past interests were playing cards (85.7%) as well as swimming, cycling, singing, practicing arts and crafts, cooking and baking, gardening, and listening to music/the radio (71,4% each) followed by (family) visits, watching television, washing and ironing clothes with 57,1% each. Further reported interests were hiking, taking walks, dancing, and travelling/going on holidays with 42.9%. There was no interest (0%) in rowing, philosophy, playing computer games, Yoga, Zumba, American football, or baseball. Residents most‐mentioned possible future interests were singing, decorating rooms, listening to music/ the radio, and driving a car with 85.7%, followed by getting a massage, ninepin bowling, gardening, cooking and baking, watching TV, taking day trips, and reading with 71.4% each. Furthermore, 57.1% of the residents would enjoy doing some laundry and ironing, repair works, barbecues, and going walking or shopping. There was no interest (0%) in sports activities such as soccer, baseball, golf, or American football. Conclusion Surveying past and possible future interests of nursing home residents with dementia shows that especially the (leisure) activities gardening, listening to music/the radio, cooking and baking, washing and ironing clothes and taking walks are of high interest. This is the basis for the next step in the project, using qualitative interviews to obtain more detailed descriptions of residents’ explored interests to then develop VR‐scenarios for residents’ individual (leisure) activities needs.