Table 3.
First Set of Major Themes from the Qualitative Analysis
| Theme | Definition and subthemes | Frequencya | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technological usability | How the use of a VR headset and controllers impacts participants' experiences | 50; 11 | “I'm still trying to figure it all out. I'm still trying to get comfortable with the technology.” “I really like that you can join anywhere…it was two weeks ago I just got off work and I ran to the store…my husband had picked me up and I was doing a class in my car…I really like that.” |
| Community | Feeling of fellowship with others because of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals | 53; 11 | “My mom got a diagnosis of Alzheimer's’…being able to talk about it and knowing that people have also experienced it and worked through it has been helpful, but more it's really having a place to bring it.” “That is one of the really fun things about VR…that there's this huge cultural and geographic mix of people, which I really enjoy that a lot.” |
| Comparison with other interventions or platforms | Comparisons of VR recovery sessions with any mental health intervention or telehealth platform | 41; 11 | “I love the immersion factor of it, just being in the actual app as opposed to a Zoom kind of meeting” “So, if [Innerworld] can move beyond just meetings to recreating, you know building a broader social world for myself then it can be a much bigger part of my life. Right now, it's a replacement for the group meetings I'm doing several times a week, but it could move up from that.” |
| Psychological/psychoeducational impact | The impact of VR recovery sessions on mental well-being and ability to retain tools | 33; 11 | “For the first time outside of [Innerworld], I took the cognitive behavioral model and put it up on a white board and took a thing I was dealing with and worked it through the model on my own…I was like oh that was super helpful!” “What happens for me is I always feel more motivated, more engaged, less frustrated, less anxious, less distressed.” |
| Challenges | Negative experiences and difficulties with VR recovery sessions | 32; 10 | “I'll have like some glitch tech issue stuff where I'll get locked into that spawning room.” “Like accidentally grabbing someone else's chair and moving it when I'm not even looking at it… and I'm like ‘oh I didn't want to do that’…when I was in early recovery, you know attention and things are sort of harder to direct…that [may] be problematic for people.” |
| Anonymity | Impact of being unidentifiable in recovery sessions | 21; 10 | “I literally don't need to hold back on anything…I don't even have to stay focused on the “am I actually being honest right now” - I can just let stuff out.” “Nobody makes an immediate judgment just based on age or where you come from.” |
| Immersion | Feeling of being placed in a different alternate environment | 28; 8 | “When I'm in those meetings I don't feel like I'm where I am like if I'm in a bedroom or a living room; I feel very transported.” “I do get the sense that I am in a physical space with somebody else.” |
| Pandemic | Mentioning the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to VR recovery sessions | 8; 6 | “It was nice to be able to hear that other people were having similar issues and…what worked with them…which I needed a lot, especially during this pandemic.” “I'm currently feeling the effects of this long-standing shelter in place, so the connection is welcome.” |
a
Frequency values are reported as the number of times mentioned (a given participant could mention a specific theme more than once); number of participants who mentioned (of n = 11 participants). Detailed descriptions of subthemes and an abundance of relevant quotes can be found in Supplementary Appendix SA3.
VR, virtual reality.