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

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. (C) 2020 The authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of the Chinese Nursing Association.