Culturally Familiar Nostalgic Virtual Reality Cognitive Training for Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Day-Care Centers.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the effectiveness of a virtual reality based nostalgic cognitive training program for older adults attending day-care centers. METHODS: In this two-arm randomized controlled trial (N = 55; mean age = 81.24 years), participants received 12 sessions of VR-based nostalgic cognitive training integrating culturally familiar Taiwanese life scenes (1960s-1990s) with structured multidomain cognitive tasks, or routine activities. The prespecified primary outcome was global cognitive function (MoCA-T). Prespecified secondary outcomes were nostalgia propensity (SNS), depressive symptoms (GDS-15), psychological well-being (PWB-18) and life satisfaction (LSI-SF). Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to examine intervention effects. This trial was retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT06973551). RESULTS: Significant group × time interactions for MoCA-T, SNS, and GDS-15 favored the experimental group. No significant group × time interaction was found for PWB-18 or LSI-SF, although PWB-18 showed within-group improvement in the experimental group. CONCLUSIONS: VR-based nostalgic cognitive training may provide short-term benefits for global cognitive function, nostalgia propensity, and depressive symptoms among older adults in day-care settings.