Enhancing Clinical and Cultural Virtual Encounter in Health Professional Students: 3 Is (Internationalization, Innovation, Interdisciplinary) in Action (3I in action)

This is a cross-over randomized control study with 3 time-points' measurement. This study is mainly to evaluate if the online pedagogic innovative learning modules could benefit students through their interprofessional and intercultural virtual encounters, with a focus on assessing their cultural awareness, interprofessional attitude and online learning engagement.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Interprofessional Education
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Virtual Reality Videos

Detailed Description

This study aims to promote and implement internationalization, innovative and intedisciplinary teaching and learning strategies through the set up of online modules of selected topics of interest. The specific objectives are: :

To enhance the educational outcomes of students from respective health disciplines in interdisciplinary learning via case-based clinical scenarios adopted in the online modules; To develop internationalization experience among students of different countries in terms of intercultural learning through the cultural exchange; To assess level of students' empowerment in active learning via 'student-as-partner' initiatives in the cultural exchange; To evaluate the effectiveness of online learning engagement among students through participating in the online modules.

Based on the Phase of Engagement Framework, two online orthopaedic modules focusing on interprofessional and intercultural educations on low back pain (LBP) and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) are developed. The students (n=104) are randomized into two groups using SNOSE. In the first module, one group receives a virtual reality (VR)-enhanced LBP education (intervention group), while the other group engages with a case study on LBP (control group). After a 3-week washout period, the groups cross over: the intervention group receives the VR-enhanced education on AIS, and the control group focuses on an AIS case study. Interprofessional learning experience, cultural awareness, and online learning engagement are measured using validated tools at three time points (baseline, after first and second modules).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 104
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 852
    • 5/F, Academic Building, 3 Sassoon Road

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• undergraduate healthcare students

Exclusion Criteria:

• cannot communicate in English

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Virtual Reality Group

Other: Virtual Reality Videos; Based on the Phase of Engagement Framework, two online orthopaedic modules focusing on interprofessional and intercultural educations on low back pain (LBP) and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) were developed. The students (n=104) were randomized into two groups. In the first module, the Virtual Reality Group as the intervention group received a virtual reality (VR)-enhanced LBP education, while the Case-based Learning Group as the control group engaged with a case study on LBP. After a 3-week washout period, the groups crossed over: the the Virtual Reality Group as the intervention group received the VR-enhanced education on AIS, and the Case-based Learning Group as the control group focused on an AIS case study.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Students' Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical education - Revised	Using Students' Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised (SPICE-R) as the tool to measure the increased level of interprofessional learning experiences. The SPICE-R instrument includes ten items, and is divided into three factors: interprofessional teamwork and team-based practice (items 1, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10), roles/responsibilities for collaborative practice (items 2 and 7), and patient outcomes from collaborative practice (items 3 and 4). It is a 5-point Likert scales (1 = 'strongly disagree' and 5 = 'strongly agree') with score ranging from 10-50. SPICE-R was chosen for its strong psychometric properties including reliability and construct validity (Dominguez et al., 2016; Lockeman et al., 2017). The instrument has high composite reliability at 0.84, indicating strong validity based on established criteria. Higher score on SPICE-R reflect more positive interprofessional experiences.	2 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 31, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): August 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 20, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 27, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): April 4, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 4, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 27, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Interprofessional education
• Other Study ID Numbers: HKWC-2022-389; 899 (Other Grant/Funding Number: HKU)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No