A Preliminary Investigation of Thai Clinical Attitudes Towards VR Adoption in Upper-Extremity Rehabilitation: Patient Usability and Clinician Perceived Usefulness

Virtual reality (VR) has shown promising potential for upper-extremity rehabilitation; however, its successful integration into clinical practice depends not only on therapeutic effectiveness but also on the acceptance of the technology by patients and healthcare professionals alike. Despite growing international research in this area, there is limited evidence on clinical attitudes toward VR rehabilitation in Thailand and other middle-income settings. This study investigates Thai patients’ and clinicians’ perceptions of VR for upper-extremity rehabilitation through two complementary studies focusing on perceived usability and usefulness. The first study evaluated the perceived usability of a VR rehabilitation game using the System Usability Scale (SUS) among 40 first-time VR users divided into younger and senior groups. The younger group reported a higher average SUS score (64.6) than the senior group (55.4). While both groups generally perceived VR rehabilitation positively, senior participants expressed greater concern regarding system complexity, consistency, and the need for technical assistance. Nevertheless, the findings indicate that VR remained an acceptable rehabilitation approach even among elderly first-time users in a population with relatively lower technological readiness. The second study explored clinicians’ perceptions of utilizing VR-generated movement data to support rehabilitation decision-making. Five rehabilitation professionals evaluated the potential usefulness of VR data visualizations for diagnosis and treatment monitoring. Clinicians generally perceived VR data as valuable, particularly for tracking rehabilitation progress rather than diagnostic decision-making. Feedback from interviews also highlighted practical considerations for future implementation, including the importance of normative data, simplified visualization formats, and the feasibility of clinical workflows. By combining patient usability perspectives with clinicians’ evaluations of clinical usefulness, this research provides a broader understanding of the factors influencing VR adoption for upper-extremity rehabilitation in Thailand. The findings contribute contextual evidence from an underrepresented healthcare environment and offer insights relevant to the future deployment of VR-assisted rehabilitation systems in similar socio-economic settings.