Raising nursing student awareness of how it feels to have dementia with the use of 360º video

Abstract

Objective: This paper aims to look at raising nursing student awareness of how it feels to have dementia through the use of 360-degree video. We were particularly interested in raising awareness amongst nursing students perceptions of the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia to promote holistic care provision guided by an empathetic understanding of how it feels to have dementia.Methods: We used a mixed methods approach to investigate nursing students’ awareness of how it feels to have dementia through the use of the 360-degree videos originally developed for a creative new media arts-exhibit at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute for raising dementia awareness. Data were collected quantitatively and qualitatively with thematic and content analyses. A focus group was conducted to explore participants’ awareness of how it feels to have dementia by viewing the 360-degree video, empathy towards people with dementia, and knowledge of dementia.Results: The 360-degree video is an arts-based knowledge-translation strategy that was used to raise nursing students’ awareness on behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. While the majority of the participants had some levels of awareness and understanding of dementia prior to the viewing of 360-degree video, they were nonetheless challenged by the content of the 360-degree video that led to new perspectives on dementia.Conclusions: The three themes identified in the thematic analysis of the focus group are understanding dementia from a new perspective, embodiment of dementia experience, and self-reflection and practice changes. These themes reflect the usefulness of 360-degree video as an arts-based knowledge translation strategy in raising dementia awareness in nursing students.

Using 360-degree videos to raise empathy and understanding of dementia

“…The videos viewed by participants were developed before COVID-19 and are part of a larger study aiming to strengthen nurses' ability to empathize with and support PwD. [6,8] They were filmed from the POV of two PwD, Nina and Charles, whose roles were played by professional actors. In those videos, our participants observed the world through the eyes and ears of a person living with dementia who was admitted for an overnight assessment in the Dementia Unit of a Rehabilitation Hospital.…”

“…Virtual reality (VR) has recently gained a lot of attention in healthcare education research, as it allows users to see, hear, and interact with objects in a virtual world, which stimulates cognitive and affective domains of learning. [4] VR videos, as educational tools, have been shown to cause changes in psychomotor skills, [5] behaviours and attitudes toward dementia, [6] and attitudes toward major depressive or anxiety disorders. [7] A 360-degree video is a form of VR that provides an immersive experience and can be simply utilized with a mobile phone [5] with or without the VR headset.…”

“…[7] A 360-degree video is a form of VR that provides an immersive experience and can be simply utilized with a mobile phone [5] with or without the VR headset. [6] A 360-degree VR video as a form of educational tool is an unexplored arts-based knowledge-translation strategy that can be leveraged to illustrate the lived experience of PwD and elicit greater dementia understanding and empathy. [8] Empathy is a core quality that nurses ought to demonstrate when caring for PwD.…”

“…[10] For instance, care home/facility practitioners perceived VR application on dementia as a convincing, immersive, insightful, and evocative experience that increased their awareness of and reflection on the care they have provided to PwD. [11] In Canada, feedback on the use of two VR videos (one with a man and the other, with a woman) that situated viewers in the point-of-view (POV) experiences of PwD during the transition from the community into a long-term care home was obtained from nursing students [6] and from the public. [8] Findings revealed that these 360-degree videos offered viewers an opportunity to 'live with dementia' vicariously.…”

“…[13] This empathetic curiosity ignited by VR tools can then translate into stronger clinical and patient-centred care by making healthcare providers want to learn about their patients. Building on previous 360-degree video studies, [6,8] we examined the role of 360-degree videos in enhancing understanding of and empathy toward persons living with dementia among undergraduate nursing students and practicing nurses. We also explored applications of the 360-degree videos that include the POV of PwD in supporting nursing students and nurses when navigating, and strengthening their care provision, during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”