Feasibility of a Computer Role-Playing Game to Promote Empathy in Nursing Students: The Role of Immersiveness and Perspective

Abstract

Empathy is considered a cornerstone of high-quality health care and a required element of nursing education. Although computer role-playing games (CRPGs) are a promising tool to promote clinical empathy, little is known about how and why it is effective at improving empathy. The goal of the current study is to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of a CRPG on nursing students' empathy with a focus on immersiveness and perspective. Results from a 2 • 2 (virtual reality [VR] vs. non-VR • patient's family's perspective vs. health care provider's perspective) between-subjects experiment (N = 69) showed that playing the game in VR (vs. non-VR) led to greater spatial presence and empathy. Moreover, playing from the health care provider's (vs. patient's family's) perspective elicited greater empathy. A moderated mediation effect was found, suggesting that users' attention allocation significantly mediated the effect of immersiveness on empathy in the patient's family's perspective condition. These findings show the feasibility of using a role-playing game for nursing education. Both theoretical and practical implications involving empathy training were discussed, along with suggestions for further research.

Artificial intelligence technologies and compassion in healthcare: A systematic scoping review

“…Tele-empathy is a promising emerging field where clinicians and carers can get a sense of what the patient is experiencing physically, such as tremors in Parkinson’s disease ( Palanica et al, 2019 ). Research on serious games for medical education (The Delirium Experience) shows certain game features, being able to “switch perspective,” can enhance medical student empathy if they play the game from the patient or nurse perspective ( Buijs-Spanjers et al, 2019 ; Ma et al, 2021 ). Experiments in the Netherlands on a serious game for care workers for people with disabilities (The world of EMPA) showed participation did not enhance empathy for disabled people but it did decrease personal distress in care workers ( Sterkenburg and Vacaru, 2018 ).…”

Perspectives of 360-Degree Cinematic Virtual Reality: Interview Study Among Health Care Professionals

“…Traditionally, VR in medical education has been used to supplement surgical training [ 8 , 9 ], teach human anatomy [ 10 ], and visualize molecular complexes to advance drug discovery [ 11 ]. More recently, VR has been used to simulate clinical skills training and role-playing [ 12 , 13 ]. VR offers the user repeated attempts to practice difficult conversations or scenarios, with fewer time constraints and less perceived pressure from observation by superiors [ 12 , 14 ].…”

The Role of Immersive Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in Medical Communication: A Scoping Review

“… 17 , 18 A final 4 of 22 articles focused on measuring empathy response after VR/AR intervention and were grouped in a separate category. 22 , 23 , 25 , 35 …”

“…VR-based studies contained a large variety of interventions—all with the aim of improving medical communication. Different intervention types included: 4 of 17 studies using VR to simulate a patient encounter, 15 , 31 , 33 , 36 4 of 17 implementing a VR teaching curriculum, 16 , 23 , 33 , 35 2 of 17 providing a VR video game experience, 18 , 22 4 of 17 using VR to educate patients, 20 , 29 , 30 , 34 2 of 17 using the headsets to view video recordings, 17 , 25 and 3 of 17 using headsets to view 3D models. Interventions involving 3D model viewing were mostly associated with patient education, 28 - 30 or facilitation of faster and easier preoperative planning.…”