The Restorative Effects of Virtual Reality Forests on Elderly Individuals during the COVId-19 Lockdown

Abstract

This study focuses on the restorative effects of immersive virtual reality (VR) forest experiences on elderly people during the COVID-19 lockdown. A field experiment with 63 elderly participants was conducted in an elderly care institution in China. The results showed that a five-minute VR forest experience with three minutes of subsequent reliving can bring immediate psychological improvements (i.e., increased positive affect, decreased negative affect, and enhanced stress recovery) to elderly individuals. The negative affect decrease and stress recovery enhancement were more obvious among introverted individuals. Furthermore, participating in three VR forest experiences over three consecutive days can bring continuous psychological improvements. Moreover, short VR forest experiences were unable to significantly decrease the blood pressure of participants. The effects of three VR experiences over three days on blood pressure improvement were also nonsignificant. Additionally, VR forest experiences can increase elderly participants’ intentions to undertake real forest therapy.