VR group hangouts put to the test for lonely seniors

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: PRIMARY PARTICIPANTS (OLDER ADULTS): * Aged 65 years or older. * Living in a private residence and receiving home care services from a participating provider, with services expected to continue for the duration of the study (approximately 4 months). * Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score of 12 or above. * Fluent in English, sufficient to participate in group virtual reality (VR) sessions and complete verbal surveys. * Adequate vision and hearing to complete surveys and engage with VR experiences (mild impairments acceptable if corrected). * Has a family caregiver or home care professional available to support them at every VR session if the MoCA score is below 18 or the participant cannot physically manipulate the headset independently. FAMILY CAREGIVERS (OPTIONAL SUBSTUDY): * Aged 18 years or older. * Identifies as the primary family caregiver for an enrolled primary participant (living with or visiting the primary participant at least twice per week). * Fluent in English and able to complete online surveys on a personal digital device (e.g., smartphone, laptop, tablet, or computer). Exclusion Criteria: PRIMARY PARTICIPANTS (OLDER ADULTS): * History of severe motion sickness or vertigo. * History of seizures or epilepsy. * Frequent and distressing hallucinations. * Aphasia or other communication barriers preventing verbal participation. * Severe disorientation or delirium. * Frequent and severe outbursts or emotional dyscontrol, or frequent and severe aggressive tendencies. (Typical sundowning is not exclusionary.) * Total vision loss not overcome by VR, or uncorrected hearing impairment that makes group conversation impracticable. * Residence in a senior living community or other congregate housing. * Presence of a harmful, aggressive, or abusive relationship with a family caregiver living in the home. FAMILY CAREGIVERS (OPTIONAL SUBSTUDY): * Presence of an aggressive or abusive relationship with the enrolled primary participant.