Technology acceptance and usability of a virtual reality intervention for military members and veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder: Mixed methods unified theory of acceptance and use of technology study
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Military members and veterans exhibit higher rates of injuries and illnesses such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of their increased exposure to combat and other traumatic scenarios. Novel treatments for PTSD are beginning to emerge and increasingly leverage advances in gaming and other technologies, such as virtual reality. Without assessing the degree of technology acceptance and perception of usability to the end users, including the military members, veterans, and their attending therapists and staff, it is difficult to determine whether a technology-based treatment will be used successfully in wider clinical practice. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model is commonly used to address the technology acceptance and usability of applications in 5 domains. OBJECTIVE: Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, the purpose of this study was to determine the technology acceptance and usability of multimodal motion-assisted memory desensitization and reconsolidation (3MDR) on a virtual reality system in the primary user group (military members and veterans with treatment-resistant PTSD, 3MDR therapists, and virtual reality environment operators). METHODS: This mixed methods embedded pilot study included military members (n=3) and veterans (n=8) with a diagnosis of combat-related PTSD, as well as their therapists (n=13) and operators (n=5) who completed pre-post questionnaires before and on completion of 6 weekly sessions of 3MDR. A partial least squares structural equation model was used to analyze the questionnaire results. Qualitative data from the interviews were assessed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Effort expectancy, which was the most notable predictor of behavioral intention, increased after a course of 3MDR with the virtual reality system, whereas all other constructs demonstrated no significant change. Participants' expectations of the technology were met, as demonstrated by the nonsignificant differences in the pre-post scores. The key qualitative themes included feasibility and function, technical support, and tailored immersion. CONCLUSIONS: 3MDR via a virtual reality environment appears to be a feasible, usable, and accepted technology for delivering 3MDR to military members and veterans who experience PTSD and 3MDR therapists and operators who facilitate their treatment.
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Jones et al. [42] evaluated the acceptance and usability of a virtual reality intervention among military members and veterans with treatment-resistant posttraumatic stress disorder, as well as therapists and VR operators.
“Jones et al. [42] evaluated the acceptance and usability of a virtual reality intervention among military members and veterans with treatment-resistant posttraumatic stress disorder, as well as therapists and VR operators.”
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- Authors
- Jones, C., Miguel Cruz, A., Smith-MacDonald, L., Brown, M. R. G., Vermetten, E., & Brémault-Phillips, S.
- Affiliations
- Alberta Health Services (CA)
- University of Alberta (CA)
- Leiden University Medical Center (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Jones, Chelsea
- ORCID
- Venue
- JMIR Formative Research
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2022-04-21
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e33681
- ISSN
- 2561-326X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9073607
- OpenAlex
- W4214661637
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 1.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- JMIR Formative Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Leiden Repository (Leiden University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- Alberta Health Services
- Government of Alberta
- Government of Canada
- Canadian Armed Forces
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Technology Adoption and User Behaviour
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, virtual reality, technology acceptance, usability, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, combat-related PTSD, military personnel, veterans, effort expectancy, behavioral intention, therapist perspectives, treatment-resistant PTSD
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