Evaluation of the Effects of Virtual Reality Learning Environment on Nursing Student Non-technical Skills Development

Evaluation of the Effects of Virtual Reality Learning Environment on Nursing Student Non-technical Skills Development: A Quasi-Experimental Study

The goal of this waitlist control study is to evaluate the benefits of virtual reality teaching pedagogy to developing non-technical skills in nursing students.

The main question[s] it aims to answer are:

1. What is the relationship between VR training programs and students' situation awareness skills development?
2. What is the relationship between VR training programs and students' communication skills development?
3. What is the relationship between VR training programs and students' satisfaction/self-confidence in learning?
4. What is the relationship between the sense of presence and satisfaction/ self-confidence in learning?
5. How does the student's learning experience after VR training programs?

Participants will attend the Virtual Reality training program. Researchers will compare the use of high-fidelity simulation to see if the non-technical skills were developed.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Educational Problems
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Virtual Reality

Detailed Description

The study employed a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest, non-equivalent waitlist control group design. First, the quantitative methods were applied to obtain numerical evidence regarding statistical trends across the experimental and waitlisted control groups.

A pretest-posttest non-equivalent waitlist control group design was employed.

Convenience sampling was adopted to recruit subjects. Participants were recruited from the students who had enrolled in the subject "Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making." They were assigned into two study groups according to the tutorial teaching schedule: the control and the experimental groups. The Control group attended the usual teaching activities: simulation followed by the intervention (VR), whereas the intervention group participated in the VR (intervention) session followed by the simulation session (control).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 180
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Kowloon, Hong Kong
    • Timothy LAI

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Students studying Year 3 of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and enrolled in the subject "Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making"

Exclusion Criteria:

• Students diagnosed with diminished visual acuity were excluded from the study to prevent the diminished visual function from affecting the VR experience.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: High fidelity Simulation; conventional teaching method	Other: Virtual Reality; Virtual reality learning platform as intervention in this study

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Situation awareness and communication skills	Use the "Virtual non-technical skills (v-NOTECHS)" scale (Sevidalis et al., 2008) to measure the situation awareness	1) Before the intervention and waitlist control as baseline assessment; 2) immediately after the intervention or control measures as follow up assessment
Student's self-confidence in learning	Use the "Student satisfaction and self-confidence in Learning" inventory (National League for Nursing, 2005) to mesure the self-confidence in learning	1) Before the intervention and waitlist control as baseline assessment; 2)immediately after the intervention or control measures as follow up assessment
Participants' sense of presence in this virtual clinical environment	Use the Presence Questionnaire to measure the sense of presence	Immediately after the intervention or control measures

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Kam Hung LAI, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 10, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 31, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): August 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 14, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 18, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): February 26, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 26, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 18, 2024
• Last Verified: January 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Virtual Reality; Simulation
• Other Study ID Numbers: HSEARS20211229002

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: The study result as part of the doctoral study, and the details of the IPD will not shared.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No