By Emma Andreasen & Talayeh Mirseyed Hosseini

It’s not a surprise that people gain physical and emotional benefits from nature. People save their money for travel to naturally beautiful places, they pay a housing premium to live in proximity to the ocean or mountains, it’s an inspiration for art, and being present in nature makes mundane stressors feel unimportant. There is a breadth of knowledge pointing to a similar conclusion: that the natural environment is crucial for our physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being. However, accessing the outdoors is a privilege that not everyone is fortunate enough to have, so what happens if you aren’t able to physically be in nature?

In a perfect world, we would all have unlimited access to the outdoors. This isn’t the case for some communities, though, one of which is older adults who live with mobility limitations. Whether an older adult uses a mobility device, they’re unstable on their feet, or they’re anxious to be outside, there are many barriers that limit an older adult’s ability to access nature, which often leaves them homebound and subsequently causes mental health challenges. As technology advances, virtual reality (VR) offers a potential solution to this problem by bringing the outdoors to people. The study that I had the pleasure of participating in this summer, Nature Rx VR, investigates whether VR technology can provide an alternative to accessing nature for older adults with mobility limitations. This blog post will give a behind-the-scenes look at the Nature Rx VR study, highlight the experiences that the participants had, and recount my time as a Graduate Research Assistant.

The Heart of the Study: Virtual Nature Immersion  

My bachelor’s degree is in public health, and every course I took during my time as an undergraduate student at the University of Iowa emphasized how important it is to work towards good health and well-being for all people. This is why, when I first learned about the Nature Rx VR study, its goals resonated with me and called me to participate in the work. The purpose of this study is to explore and evaluate the potential of a VR intervention to promote quality of life and well-being among older adults who are homebound or have mobility limitations. The intervention focuses on creating immersive virtual environments that simulate natural settings, and its key objectives are to develop a user-friendly VR system capable of delivering these simulations, evaluate the intervention's effectiveness in improving participants' quality of life and well-being, and assess the usability, comfort, and feasibility of implementing the VR system in home and institutional settings.
The Nature Rx VR study is a continuation of a study called Nature Rx that began in Fall 2024, where participants (older adults facing mental health challenges) were ‘prescribed’ forest bathing in the University of Utah’s Red Butte Garden. Forest bathing, or Shinrin-yoku, is a practice of therapeutic relaxation where one spends time in a forest or natural environment and focuses on sensory engagement to connect with nature. The effectiveness of forest bathing requires the participant to be fully immersed in nature to fully reap the benefits, which is a significant barrier for older adults who are homebound or have mobility limitations. VR technology provides a unique solution because it provides a three-dimensional experience, which allows a person to feel like they’re in another place, all while they’re in a safe and controlled environment.

Figure 1: Nature VR and Its Key Connections

In the Nature Rx VR study, participants were able to experience eight different types of natural environments through the VR headsets, which ranged from lush mountain vistas reminiscent of the Wasatch Mountains to rocky terrain only found in Australia to sweeping savannas in Africa. Specifically, the study used Nature Treks VR, a fully immersive and interactive program featuring 15 nature-themed environments ( https://www.greenergames.net/nature-treks ). To make the experience even more realistic, the scenes also feature animals and sounds that would be expected in these environments. For example, a participant who does the “Pine Vista” scene will hear running water from a mountain stream and wind through the conifer trees while watching a few deer munch on grass nearby. The high-quality visuals and authentic nature sounds are imperative for the realism of the VR scenes, which led some participants to even reach out to touch the animals!

                                               Figure 2: Sample Nature Treks VR Scenes: Pine Vista, Red Fall, Red Savanna, and Green Meadows.

The Participant Journey: A Detailed Look at the Procedure

My role as the graduate research assistant was mainly focused on coordinating with the participants rather than facilitating the VR sessions, and getting to know our participants was the highlight of my experience. The participants, who ranged in age from their mid-sixties to their mid-nineties, all brought their own assumptions, challenges, and experiences that were critical to our understanding of how the VR system is perceived by older adults. I expected a high level of skepticism from our participants, but to my surprise and excitement, the majority of them were trusting and intrigued by virtual reality and were open to it as an alternative for being physically present in nature. The participant recruitment process was robust, as we wanted to capture and engage as many people in our target population as possible. Since we aimed to work with older adults, we visited several different senior centers across the Salt Lake Valley. During these recruitment sessions, we had a table set up with information about our study and a VR headset out for demonstration. At these recruitment events, we had people timidly approach our table, skeptical of the VR device, but they enthusiastically gave their contact information after they were given the opportunity to try out the headset. Aside from tabling at senior centers, our recruitment strategy involved distributing printed materials, posting online announcements, and coordinating with healthcare providers, social workers, and other professionals who work with older adults. We also developed a program website for the interested participants to sign up and choose the sessions they wanted to attend. 

Figure 3: Program Flyer and Sign-up Page used for Recruitment

Over the span of a few months, participants were asked to attend at least eight VR sessions. These sessions were held at the Tenth East Senior Center and Park Lane Senior Living Facility in Salt Lake City, where the employees were kind enough to lend us rooms for the program: one for conducting surveys and participant coordination, and another for the VR experience. It was critical that we had a separate, quiet room for the headset users, which allowed them to have a truly immersive experience without distractions. Participants noted the emotions, both positive and negative, that they felt before they went into the VR room, and whether they changed upon completing 15 to 20 minutes of VR nature exposure. On top of the self-reported mood data collected each session, participants also completed three longer surveys during the study. The pre, mid, and post-program surveys gathered data on participants’ connection to nature, their perceptions and feelings towards virtual reality, and anxiety and health-related outcomes. All of this information is necessary to paint a holistic picture of the participant’s experience with virtual reality.

Accessing nature through virtual reality as a way to address mental health challenges is a novel concept, and the experiences that the participants shared are invaluable as they help us to understand how virtual forest bathing can be effectively implemented as a therapeutic tool. Although most of our participants had positive experiences, the study was not met without some negative ones. Whether it was the headset not fitting properly, the animals in the scene being anxiety-inducing, or effects like dizziness resulting from the virtual reality, every experience, good or bad, sheds light on what is needed to make VR a viable option for older adults with mobility concerns.

Figure 4: Older Adults Experiencing the Program (July 2025)

Paving the Way for Virtual Wellness

As the saying goes, the only thing that’s constant is change, and I appreciate how Nature Rx VR embraces changing technology rather than resisting it. Previously, having a mobility limitation meant that you were stuck in one place. However, VR provides an opportunity for anyone, regardless of age, ability, or health status, to access nature. What I’ve noticed from talking to the participants is that many of them are excited and enthusiastic about the idea of virtual nature exposure. The Nature Rx VR study is still in the data collection phase, and it will be exciting to see what trends emerge regarding the effectiveness of virtual forest bathing. Technology is often made out to be an antagonist when it comes to health and well-being, from being disruptive to sleep schedules to causing anxiety; however, if we could harness the positives of technology to potentially improve our health, why shouldn’t we?

I encourage anyone reading this to stay updated on the study’s progress on the HARP Lab’s website, which can be accessed here.

Figure 5: Bringing Nature to Everyone through the Power of VR (August 2025)