Cláudia Pedro Ortet (DigiMedia PhD Student), Ana Isabel Veloso (DigiMedia Member) and Liliana Vale Costa (DigiMedia Member), published in the Special Issue Wearable Assistive Devices for Disabled and Older People of the Journal Sensors the article entitled Cycling through 360° Virtual Reality Tourism for Senior Citizens: Empirical Analysis of an Assistive Technology. 

Following the First Meeting of Senior Virtual Reality: A Trip to Paris, the researchers assessed the senior citizens’ perceived experience and attitudes toward a designed 360° VR cyclotouristic experiment, using a head-mounted display (HMD) setting within a laboratory context. A total of 76 participants aged between 50 and 97 years old were involved in convergent parallel mixed-method research, and data were collected using a questionnaire based on the technology acceptance model, as well as the researchers’ field notes. Findings suggest that 360° VR with HMD can be an effective assistive technology to foster senior cyclotourism by promoting tourism sites, simulating the cycling pedaling effect, and improving senior citizens’ general wellbeing and independence with physical and mental rehabilitation.