Abstract
Introduction and Background: Virtual reality (VR) is an effective way to overcome the cost, time, and logistic problems of planning and delivering education and can be used to simulate high-risk clinical situations without exposing the person to the potential consequences of encountering the event in the real world. Therefore, it is likely that VR could be incorporated into education on aggression management for nursing students without the actual consequences of doing it in real-life clinical settings.
Aims/Objectives/Hypotheses: A pilot study to evaluate an education on aggression management that incorporated VR for teaching aggression management. The research questions guiding this study were to: Determine pre- and post-education differences in nursing students’ attitudes and confidence of managing aggression in clinical settings, and their empathy, knowledge, and attitudes toward persons with a mental illness? Evaluate nursing students’ experiences regarding the use of VR in their education on managing aggression?
Methods: Quantitative pre- and post-education surveys were used to collect data. The surveys included (i) Confidence in coping with Patient Aggression Instrument(CCPA), (ii) Jefferson Scale of Empathy Health Professions Student(JSE-HPS), (iii) Management of Aggression and Violence Attitude Scale (MAVAS), (iv) Mental Health Literacy Scale(MHLS), and (v) Opening Minds Scale for Healthcare Providers(OMS-HC). The collected pre- and post-education measures were analysed using SPSS and the selected statistical significance level for testing the hypotheses were p < 0.05. Basic demographic data were collected pre-education and the Virtual Reality Neuroscience Questionnaire(VRNQ) and session evaluation data were collected post-education.
Outcomes/Significance/Implications for the Profession: Eleven nursing students participated in this study. There was a significant difference in median total scores of MAVAS factors external and situational/interactional, and CCPA scale. However, there were no significant differences between the other pre- and post-education JSE-HPS, MHLS, and OMS-HC measures. Most participants reported that the sessions in the education were conducted in an engaging manner (6.45, SD = 0.820) and that the debrief session was useful for consolidating their learning (6.36, SD = 0.674).
Translation to Practice: The use of VR in nursing education is potentially beneficial to prepare nursing students for real-life clinical challenges and should be further explored to develop evidence-based practice.