Testing the effectivity of the mixed virtual reality training Into D’mentia for informal caregivers of people with dementia: protocol for a longitudinal, quasi-experimental study

Abstract

IntroductionInformal caregivers for people with dementia (hereafter: caregivers) often feel (over)burdened by the care for a loved one with dementia, and this can have various deleterious effects on both caregivers and patients. Support for caregivers is urgently needed, and for this reason, a dementia simulator (Into D’mentia) was developed in which caregivers experience what it is like to have dementia. The simulator attempts to heighten caregivers’ empathy and understanding for the patient and, in turn, diminish their own caregiver burden. The current study evaluates whether the simulator is effective on a number of outcomes.Methods and analysisA longitudinal, quasi-experimental study is ongoing in the Netherlands. We aim to recruit 142 caregivers in total divided over two groups: 71 caregivers in the intervention group and 71 caregivers in the control group. All participants will complete interviews and questionnaires at four time points: at baseline, 1 week, 2.5 months and 15 months after the training. The primary outcomes include empathy, caregiver burden, caregiver’s sense of competence, social reliance, anxiety, depression and caregivers’ subjective and objective health.Ethics and disseminationThis study is being carried out in agreement with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol has been approved by the local ethics committees.Registration detailsThis study is registered with The Netherlands National Trial Register (NNTR5856).

Virtual simulation training: Imaged experience of dementia

“…Dementia is considered a global health priority with projections of the disease set to increase dramatically across the world (World Health Organisation, , ). International and national policy and research have highlighted the need to equip healthcare professionals and family caregivers not only with skills and knowledge but also an empathic understanding of people living with a condition (Department of Health, ; Jütten et al, ; World Health Organisation, ). Research suggests people who are empathetic tend to provide better care and can enhance patient satisfaction and outcomes (Ahrweiler, Neumann, Goldblatt, Hahn, & Scheffer, ; Dal Santo, Pohl, Saiani, & Battistelli, ; Kim, Kaplowitz, & Johnston, ).…”

“…For example, in the United Kingdom (UK), a number of public inquiries (Francis, 2013;Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman, 2015) suggest severe failings in patient care were attributed to a lack of staff empathy. Criticism has also been levelled at caregiver training initiatives which lack practicality and transference to daily life (Cheng et al, 2012;Jütten et al, 2017), with some caregivers finding it difficult to understand and cope with the changing functioning and behaviour of their family member with dementia (Veerbeck, Willemse, Prins, & Pot, 2016). Increasingly healthcare providers and caregivers are using virtual reality (VR) simulation as one approach to enhance empathic understanding for training and educational purposes (Aziz, 2018;Dyer, Swartzlanfer, & Gugliucci, 2018;Jütten et al, 2017;Elliman, Loizou, & Loizides, 2016;McDougall, 2015).…”

“…Criticism has also been levelled at caregiver training initiatives which lack practicality and transference to daily life (Cheng et al, 2012;Jütten et al, 2017), with some caregivers finding it difficult to understand and cope with the changing functioning and behaviour of their family member with dementia (Veerbeck, Willemse, Prins, & Pot, 2016). Increasingly healthcare providers and caregivers are using virtual reality (VR) simulation as one approach to enhance empathic understanding for training and educational purposes (Aziz, 2018;Dyer, Swartzlanfer, & Gugliucci, 2018;Jütten et al, 2017;Elliman, Loizou, & Loizides, 2016;McDougall, 2015). VR has been used for a range of conditions, for example, alcoholism (Metcalf, Rossie, Stokes, Tallman, & Tanner, 2018), multiple sclerosis (Massetti et al, 2016), cardiovascular disease (Silva, Southworth, Raptis, & Sliva, 2018) and dementia (Wijma et al, 2018).…”

Effective Empathy Training for Dementia Caregivers Using Virtual Reality

“…Participants also stated that they often reviewed their experiences in the simulation to better understand the behavior of people with dementia. Related studies [1] [2] [3] have also mentioned that informal caregivers often experience psychological distress due to the functional changes of the dementia patients they care for. The improvement of understanding of dementia patients can reduce psychological distress.…”

Predicting self-esteem in informal caregivers of people with dementia: Modifiable and non-modifiable factors

“…However, most of these predictors have been explored using only one specific aspect of gains, and some studies have relied on correlational (univariate) methods to investigate which factors are associated with gains (e.g. Grover, Nehra, Malhotra, & Kate, 2017), and univariate analyses do not allow for identification of which predictors are most important. It remains unknown whether there are psychosocial (modifiable) predictors which predict gains irrespective of sociodemographic (nonmodifiable) characteristics.…”