Evaluation of the Effects of Virtual Reality Learning Environment on Nursing Student Non-technical Skills Development

Evaluation of the Effects of Virtual Reality Learning Environment on Nursing Student Non-technical Skills Development: A Quasi-Experimental Study

The goal of this waitlist control study is to evaluate the benefits of virtual reality teaching pedagogy to developing non-technical skills in nursing students.

The main question[s] it aims to answer are:

1. What is the relationship between VR training programs and students' situation awareness skills development?
2. What is the relationship between VR training programs and students' communication skills development?
3. What is the relationship between VR training programs and students' satisfaction/self-confidence in learning?
4. What is the relationship between the sense of presence and satisfaction/ self-confidence in learning?
5. How does the student's learning experience after VR training programs?

Participants will attend the Virtual Reality training program. Researchers will compare the use of high-fidelity simulation to see if the non-technical skills were developed.

The study employed a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest, non-equivalent waitlist control group design. First, the quantitative methods were applied to obtain numerical evidence regarding statistical trends across the experimental and waitlisted control groups.

A pretest-posttest non-equivalent waitlist control group design was employed.

Convenience sampling was adopted to recruit subjects. Participants were recruited from the students who had enrolled in the subject "Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making." They were assigned into two study groups according to the tutorial teaching schedule: the control and the experimental groups. The Control group attended the usual teaching activities: simulation followed by the intervention (VR), whereas the intervention group participated in the VR (intervention) session followed by the simulation session (control).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Students studying Year 3 of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and enrolled in the subject "Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making"

Exclusion Criteria:

• Students diagnosed with diminished visual acuity were excluded from the study to prevent the diminished visual function from affecting the VR experience.