The use and impact of virtual reality programs supported by aromatherapy for older adults: A scoping review protocol

by Lillian Hung, Joey Wong, Haopu Ren, W. Ben Mortenson, Angelica Lim, Jennifer Boger, Christine Wallsworth, Yong Zhao

Both virtual reality and aromatherapy have shown promising impacts on the health and well-being of older adults. Aromatherapy has been reported to enhance immersive experiences during virtual reality programs. However, studies on the combined use and impact of virtual reality and aromatherapy for older adults have not been systematically reviewed. Therefore, this scoping review will identify existing types of virtual reality programs supported by various forms of aromatherapy and their outcome measures and results on the well-being of older adults. This review will be conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology or scoping reviews and will be reported in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. The search strategy will encompass both published and unpublished papers. The databases to be searched are CINAHL, MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, ACM digital library, IEEE Xplore digital library, Compendex, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. Two independent reviewers will perform title and abstract screening, full-text screening, and data extraction. Data analysis and synthesis will be discussed by the whole research team, mapped in the literature table and accompanied by a narrative summary. Scoping review data will be collected from publicly available articles; research ethics approval is not required. The findings will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication and conference presentations.