Effects of a dementia educational programme using virtual reality on nurses in an acute care hospital: A pre-post comparative study

BackgroundPoor awareness of dementia care by healthcare professionals affects the quality of care for people living with dementia in acute care settings.ObjectivesThis study examined the effectiveness of a virtual reality-based educational programme for dementia for nurses working in acute care hospitals in Japan.MethodsA dementia education programme for nurses was designed. The programme comprised short movies, virtual reality videos based on the short movies, a lecture, discussions and role-playing based on the experimental learning model. Virtual reality video content was created to promote empathy for people living with dementia through a first-person experience of dementia. The educational programme involved nurses working in an acute care hospital in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Before and after the programme, we employed structured questionnaires using validated instruments to assess participants' attitudes towards people living with dementia, their intentions of helping behaviour and their confidence in providing dementia care.ResultsSeventy-six nurses participated in and completed the pre- and post-tests. The mean age was 34.9 +/- 9.2 years, and 90.8% of the participants were female. A paired t-test showed significant before-after improvement in the participants' attitudes towards people living with dementia (41.9 +/- 5.1 vs. 44.5 +/- 4.8), intentions of helping behaviour towards people living with dementia (10.8 +/- 2.5 vs. 12.8 +/- 2.1) and confidence in providing dementia care (25.9 +/- 6.7 vs. 29.2 +/- 6.0).ConclusionThe programme effectively improved nurses' attitudes towards people living with dementia and confidence in providing dementia care in acute care settings. Future research is important to explore the long-term effects of this programme and its effects on actual dementia care.Implications for practiceThe dementia education programme may promote person-centred care in acute hospitals. Future studies should consider the provision of more flexible programs so that nurses can more easily participate in them.