The role of engagement in older adults’ intention to use virtual reality for wellbeing

Immersive spaces of extended reality, including virtual reality (VR), have attracted significant attention from scholars seeking to shape the future of digital transformation across disciplines and practices. VR experiences for aging communities have been designed and developed to mitigate social isolation among older adults. However, evidence regarding their ability to provide sustained social stimulation or improve social interaction has been mixed. This study investigated how older adults’ engagement with VR drives their use of it for wellbeing. A total of 135 older adults (aged 60 to 80 years) participated to validate a series of relationships between engagement factors and endurability, and ultimately, their intention to use VR. The results demonstrated distinct effects of aesthetics, novelty, felt involvement, and focused attention on users’ endurability. The mediating effect of endurability on an individual’s intention to use VR was found to be significant. The model explained 69% of the variance in endurability (R2 = 0.690) and 60% of the variance in intention to use VR (R2 = 0.597). Several other non-significant effects were identified, and these were thoroughly examined and discussed. These findings provide empirical evidence that older adults’ willingness to adopt VR for wellbeing is driven primarily by endurability and the aesthetic qualities of the VR experience, thereby informing key design and intervention priorities for researchers and practitioners. The study also offers new perspectives on the previously unobserved impact of novelty, felt involvement, and focused attention on older adults’ intention to use VR.