A pediatric seizure management virtual reality simulator for nursing students: A quasi-experimental design

• Published in: Nurse education today 2022-12, Vol.119, p.105550-105550, Article 105550
• Main Authors: Wu, Mei-Ling, Chao, Li-Fen, Xiao, Xaviera
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Nursing students; Pediatric nursing; Seizure management; User acceptance; Virtual reality
• ISSN: 0260-6917; 1532-2793
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105550

Seizures are a common neurologic disorder observed in children. A virtual reality (VR) simulator trains nursing students to understand and respond to pediatric seizures. The aim of this study was to examine knowledge acquisition and acceptance of a pediatric seizure management VR simulator. A quasi-experimental design was used to study the effectiveness of VR in nursing education. Two out of nine possible third-year Pediatric Nursing classes were assigned by the office of academic affairs. A total of 105 students participated. The two classes were randomly allocated into the intervention (n = 53) and control (n = 52) groups. The intervention group was taught using a pediatric seizure management simulator; the control group was taught by in-person lecture. The Seizure Management Knowledge Test was administered to all participants before each group underwent their VR simulator and lecture respectively. The Pediatric Seizure Management Virtual Reality Acceptance Questionnaire and the Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire were given to participants in the intervention group. Independent t-tests and chi-square tests were used to test differences in knowledge acquisition between the two groups. The posttest knowledge score in the intervention group was significantly higher than that in the control group (t = 5.05, p