The number of dementia patients in Korea is increasing with the increase in the elderly population. Accordingly, the importance of the role of the caregivers, who are the main care worker other than the family, is increasing. Therefore, in this study, a virtual reality practice program was developed to enhance the practical competency of caregivers who take care of dementia patients, and the effects were analyzed. The caregiver said that among the mental behaviors of dementia patients, aggression and delusion were the most difficult. Based on this information, a practice program was developed by realizing a case of a male dementia patient who expressed refusal to bathing help as an aggressive behavior due to delusion in virtual reality, and the effect of the virtual reality practice program was analyzed for five caregivers. As a result, ‘interest in new teaching methods’, ‘improving concentration of practical education based on real cases’, and ‘increasing confidence in caring for dementia patients’ were found. As this study is a pilot test, it is necessary to repeat the study with more subjects in the future, and to develop virtual reality implementation cases for various mental and behavioral symptoms.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the experience of nursing students who volunteered as dementia partners for elderly persons with dementia.Methods: This qualitative study utilized focus group interviews to investigate the experiences of 20 nursing students who performed dementia partner activities for more than one year. Data were analysed using an inductive content analysis approach based on Elo & Kyngäs.Results: The analysis yielded the following four major themes: “becoming a dementia expert,” “becoming an evangelist for prevention of dementia,” “overcoming prejudices against aged with dementia,” and “acquiring motivation and skills of geriatric nursing” That means the experience as a dementia partner serves as an opportunity to broaden human understanding and shows its potential as a means to complement the effectiveness of practical nursing education.Conclusion: Dementia partner experiences have changed the perception, attitude and behavior of nursing students about the aged with dementia, so there is a need to extend this kind of experience to other students in nursing. Moreover, educational policy support should be continuously provided for this purpose.