4 days ago
Virtual Reality Implementation in #MentalHealth Care Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint: Qualitative Longitudinal Study of a Virtual Reality Training Program
Background: Despite the potential of virtual reality (VR) for treatment and assessment in #MentalHealth care, its practical implementation remains limited. Much implementation research explores barriers and facilitators; fewer studies actually evaluate targeted implementation strategies and track how their effects evolve over time in #MentalHealth care practice. Objective: This study aims to examine how a structured VR training program functioned as an implementation strategy in routine #MentalHealth care and to identify how therapists’ adoption trajectories and implementation needs shifted across stages of the process. Methods: Eleven therapists from a Dutch #MentalHealth care organization completed a 6-session VR training. Semistructured interviews were conducted at 3 time points: pretraining, immediately posttraining, and 3 months posttraining. Data were deductively analyzed using theoretical thematic analysis based on the capability, opportunity, motivation – behavior model and the Theoretical Domains Framework to map stage-specific changes in implementation needs relating to VR use. Results: The training improved therapists’ perceived knowledge, skills, and confidence in using VR. Nonetheless, actual uptake of VR in clinical routines remained limited. Enduring barriers included workflow misalignment, hierarchical decision-making structures, and the absence of a shared organizational vision and sustained leadership support. The longitudinal design revealed a dynamic pattern: early adoption hinged on individual capability and motivation, whereas maintenance depended on organizational opportunity and communicated support. These stage-specific shifts clarify why training alone does not translate into routine use and which organizational levers are most important when. Conclusions: VR training for therapists is a necessary but insufficient implementation strategy in #MentalHealth care. A longitudinal #Approach shows that successful implementation requires pairing training with organization-level changes that address opportunity barriers over time. By shifting from static evaluations of whether training works to a process-oriented focus on what support is needed at each stage of implementation, this study advances implementation science in #Digital #MentalHealth and offers actionable guidance for embedding VR in routine care.
JMIR Mental Health: Virtual Reality Implementation in #MentalHealth Care Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint: Qualitative Longitudinal Study of a Virtual Reality Training Program #VirtualReality #MentalHealth #VRTraining #MentalHealthCare #Therapy
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