"It takes us out of our daily lives": Lived experience and healthcare provider perspectives on virtual nature travel during psychiatric hospitalization.

BACKGROUND

Psychiatric hospitalizations can be highly stressful and may offer limited opportunities for meaningful, recovery-oriented interventions. Immersive virtual reality (VR) may provide accessible leisure and social experiences, but little is known about how hospitalized individuals and healthcare providers perceive its use in inpatient psychiatric care.

METHODS

Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with hospitalized individuals (n = 29) and online surveys were collected from healthcare providers (n = 7), following the implementation of Toujours Dimanche, an immersive virtual-nature travel application with a social component, on an inpatient unit for complex mood disorders. Thematic analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

Participants described the application as a temporary break from the experience of psychiatric hospitalization that provided stimulation, emotional respite, social connection, and opportunities to reconnect with life beyond the unit. Although hospitalized individuals and healthcare providers generally viewed the service positively, they identified several conditions affecting its sustained implementation, including perceptions of patient suitability, limited staffing and space, and uncertainty regarding the value of recovery-oriented benefits in the absence of demonstrated symptom improvement.

CONCLUSION

Virtual nature travel was perceived as a meaningful adjunct to inpatient psychiatric care. Its sustainable integration may depend on adequate institutional resources and greater recognition of well-being and recovery-oriented outcomes as legitimate aims of hospitalization.