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. 2020 Jun 24;7(3):258-261.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijnss.2020.06.010. eCollection 2020 Jul 10.

Impact of Virtual Dementia Tour on empathy level of nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

Xiya Peng  1 , Liaofang Wu  2 , Xiaoshu Xie  1 , Mengjun Dai  1 , Donghua Wang  1
Affiliations

Impact of Virtual Dementia Tour on empathy level of nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

Xiya Peng et al. Int J Nurs Sci. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Objective: As a developable ability, empathy is significantly associated with patient-centered care. The authors intended to evaluate the effect of Virtual Dementia Tour (VDT) upon nursing students' empathy level and propose practical rationales for optimizing future dementia care.

Methods: A total of 45 second-year undergraduate nursing students were organized to watch a theme movie entitled Still Alice and participate in an 8-min VDT. Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Professional Students (JSE-HPS) was employed for evaluating the empathy level of nursing students. After VDT, all nursing students participated in a structured interview. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests were performed using SPSS 24.0.

Results: Their empathy levels demonstrated significant overall improvements (106.69 ± 9.49 vs 115.51 ± 10.16, P < 0.01). During the course of VDT, nursing students experienced varying levels of anxiety and frustration. All of them were satisfied with the program since they had gained a deeper understanding of demented patients and the program could change their attitudes toward demented elders.

Conclusion: Watching a specially selected movie and participating in VDT may be an effective method for enhancing empathy and caring during nursing student education.

Keywords: Aged; Anxiety; Attitude; Dementia; Empathy; Motion pictures; Nursing students; Patient-centered care.

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