{"id":30563,"date":"2021-11-16T04:40:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T12:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?p=30563"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:33:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:33:51","slug":"maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/","title":{"rendered":"Maravilla Seniors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, seniors and their families have experienced loneliness and isolation. From enforcing strict lockdowns to limiting in-person visits, senior living communities have seen this firsthand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how can communities work to improve seniors\u2019 quality of life? One theory, developed by two UC Santa Barbara professors, is through virtual reality (VR). Specifically, through VR sessions with seniors and their loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This theory is being put to the test with seniors at Maravilla Santa Barbara<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testing the power of VR sessions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 21 pairs of Maravilla residents and remote family members, professors Tamara Afifi and Nancy Collins began their research in 2020. Their goal remains to show the impact of VR technology on social connection \u2014 and quality of life \u2014 for seniors residing in communities. Not to mention, the impact of VR sessions on these seniors\u2019 family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this highlight<\/a>, Collins explains the bigger picture of the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe long-term goal is to find ways to use innovative technologies to reduce social isolation, strengthen family bonds and improve quality of life for older adults with varying levels of cognitive impairment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the pilot study findings, VR sessions reduced feelings of loneliness, improved moods and helped enhance seniors\u2019 quality of life. For families, the VR sessions led to better moods and less caregiver guilt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA family is a system, so when you help one person, you\u2019re helping the whole family,\u201d explained Afifi. \u201cThis is especially true for caregivers, who can bear a particularly heavy burden in terms of stress and guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afifi and Collins also tested how memory decline effects seniors\u2019 engagement during VR sessions. They found that seniors with mild cognitive impairment were more kinesthetically engaged in the VR experience, whereas seniors with mild to moderate dementia moved their bodies less \u2014 and reported feeling more immersed in the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the success of the pilot study, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has granted the research team more funding. They\u2019re set for a two-year clinical trial, one that will rigorously test the social and psychological benefits of VR activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an exciting step for senior living communities. With the knowledge uncovered so far, and the promise of more discoveries, providers can start facilitating shared, immersive experiences for seniors and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the community<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maravilla is a Santa Barbara-based community under the umbrella of Senior Resource Group<\/a> (SRG). SRG, a dedicated Yardi client, has over 30 years of experience in senior housing. They\u2019re known for their innovative community design, excellent service and exceptional care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SRG helps communities like Maravilla thrive using Yardi solutions like RentCafe Senior CRM<\/a>, Yardi EHR<\/a> and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re proud to spotlight the seniors of Maravilla Santa Barbara for participating in VR research. The study has uncovered a key solution for improving seniors\u2019 quality of life \u2014 and there\u2019s more to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can learn more about the VR study here<\/a>. To see how Yardi solutions<\/a> support clients like SRG, don\u2019t hesitate to reach out to us<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, seniors and their families have experienced loneliness and isolation. From enforcing strict lockdowns to limiting in-person visits, senior living communities have seen this firsthand. So how can communities work to improve seniors\u2019 quality of life? One theory, developed by two UC Santa Barbara professors, is through virtual reality (VR). Specifically, through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":782,"featured_media":30564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2952],"tags":[842,165],"class_list":["post-30563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senior-living","tag-senior-living","tag-yardi-client"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYardi Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"See how virtual reality (VR) sessions can reduce loneliness for seniors and their families, studied with seniors at Maravilla Santa Barbara.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maravilla Seniors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"See how virtual reality (VR) sessions can reduce loneliness for seniors and their families, studied with seniors at Maravilla Santa Barbara.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yardi Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-16T12:40:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-22T23:33:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/11\/419375949-1920x1280-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Natalie Mahn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natalie Mahn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/\",\"name\":\"VR Sessions for Seniors - Yardi Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/11\/419375949-1920x1280-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-16T12:40:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-22T23:33:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce3207494d1a0adc1d7955229163f1\"},\"description\":\"See how virtual reality (VR) sessions can reduce loneliness for seniors and their families, studied with seniors at Maravilla Santa Barbara.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/11\/419375949-1920x1280-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/11\/419375949-1920x1280-1.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1280},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Maravilla Seniors\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Yardi Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce3207494d1a0adc1d7955229163f1\",\"name\":\"Natalie Mahn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/Natalie-Mahn-headshot.jpg?w=96\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/Natalie-Mahn-headshot.jpg?w=96\",\"caption\":\"Natalie Mahn\"},\"description\":\"Natalie Mahn is a senior marketing writer at Yardi. You'll find her writing for the REACH by RentCafe team, where she loves putting her creativity and agency experience to the test. Natalie is based in Thousand Oaks, California.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nataliemahn\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/author\/natalie-mahn\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yardi Blog","description":"See how virtual reality (VR) sessions can reduce loneliness for seniors and their families, studied with seniors at Maravilla Santa Barbara.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Maravilla Seniors","og_description":"See how virtual reality (VR) sessions can reduce loneliness for seniors and their families, studied with seniors at Maravilla Santa Barbara.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/","og_site_name":"Yardi Blog","article_published_time":"2021-11-16T12:40:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-22T23:33:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/11\/419375949-1920x1280-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Natalie Mahn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Natalie Mahn","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/","name":"VR Sessions for Seniors - Yardi Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/11\/419375949-1920x1280-1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-16T12:40:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:33:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce3207494d1a0adc1d7955229163f1"},"description":"See how virtual reality (VR) sessions can reduce loneliness for seniors and their families, studied with seniors at Maravilla Santa Barbara.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/11\/419375949-1920x1280-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/11\/419375949-1920x1280-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/maravilla-seniors-vr-sessions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Maravilla Seniors"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/","name":"Yardi Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce3207494d1a0adc1d7955229163f1","name":"Natalie Mahn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/Natalie-Mahn-headshot.jpg?w=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/Natalie-Mahn-headshot.jpg?w=96","caption":"Natalie Mahn"},"description":"Natalie Mahn is a senior marketing writer at Yardi. You'll find her writing for the REACH by RentCafe team, where she loves putting her creativity and agency experience to the test. Natalie is based in Thousand Oaks, California.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nataliemahn\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/author\/natalie-mahn\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/11\/419375949-1920x1280-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/782"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30565,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30563\/revisions\/30565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}