Establishing and Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Augmented Reality Technology in Gender Empowerment System

Establishing and Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Augmented Reality Technology in Gender Empowerment System for Long-term Care Workers: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: In the interventional study of gender mainstreaming, few studies have been conducted on gender empowerment in long-term care. And there are still some limitations in the gender curriculum of current in-service education. This research will cooperate with the digital learning promotion plan to stimulate learners' senses to strengthen their feelings about gender equality issues and events to have a more flexible and diverse learning experience and enhance geriatric care competencies.

Purpose: This study is a two-year plan, and the purpose of each year are as follows: 1). To conduct learning needs assessment of long-term care workers, and to develop and construct an educational training module for gender empowerment system of AR interactive experience.

2). To verify the effectiveness of the gender equality knowledge, attitude, awareness, and self-confidence of the research subjects after the "Apply of augmented reality technology" was introduced into the gender curriculum.

Background: In the interventional study of gender mainstreaming, few studies have been conducted on gender empowerment in long-term care. And there are still some limitations in the gender curriculum of current in-service education. This research will cooperate with the digital learning promotion plan to stimulate learners' senses to strengthen their feelings about gender equality issues and events to have a more flexible and diverse learning experience and enhance geriatric care competencies.

Purpose: This study is a two-year plan, and the purpose of each year are as follows: 1). To conduct learning needs assessment of long-term care workers, and to develop and construct an educational training module for gender empowerment system of AR interactive experience.

2). To verify the effectiveness of the gender equality knowledge, attitude, awareness, and self-confidence of the research subjects after the "Apply of augmented reality technology" was introduced into the gender curriculum.

Methods: This study will adopt a mixed research approach. We'll conduct focus group interviews in the first year. The interviewers want to invite specialists in the fields of long-term care/geriatric nursing education, scholars from the gender talent pool of the Ministry of Education, and specialists in the engineering of digital smart systems. Additionally, it is intended to include senior front-line long-term care providers in the planning and creation of lesson plans for this platform system. A randomized clinical trial (RCT) will be adopted which uses a 2-armed, controlled experiment, parallel-group design, and multi-center in the second year. The setting and participants will be recruited from four long-term care institution in Taipei and New Taipei city. Through the cluster random sampling method, two institutions will be randomly selected from the computer based on the " institution " from each long-term care institution, and then the allocation concealment mechanism will be based on the inclusion criteria to recruit research participants, then according to their willingness to participate in this project. The intervention will be divided into two groups, namely treatment group (AR intervention group) and control group (waiting list control group). The experimental group's intervention consists of a course that embraces AR's platform for gender empowerment. The intervention course will require 50-60 minutes for preliminary planning, and participants in the experimental group can design at least three course modules to suit their learning needs. The control group will adopt the classroom narration method. The following are the primary outcome indicators: gender equality knowledge scale, gender equality attitude and awareness scale, self-confidence visual analog scale, learning effectiveness and System Usability Scale (SUS). The researcher uses structured questionnaires to collect data before intervention (To) and after intervention (T1), 1 month (T2) after the intervention. Data will be analyzed using the Generalized Estimating Equation to analyze the repeated measurements and intention-to-treat analysis for reducing attrition bias.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Acceptance conditions for research subjects

  1. have worked in the home care institution for at least one year
  2. have normal vision and hearing, and can operate digital mobile phones or tablets
  3. are willing to participate in this research.

Exclusion Criteria:

• The exclusion conditions are

  1. under the age of 20
  2. the staff member is currently an administrative post and does not belong to the front-line long-term care staff.