Use and impact of virtual reality simulation in dementia care education: A scoping review

Communication and empathy are considered as key competences in the care of persons with dementia. Virtual reality might be an effective intervention to train informal and professional caregivers of persons with dementia in order to improve their communication skills and empathy. The aim of this study was to map the use and impact of virtual reality simulation in dementia care education. A scoping review was performed. Studies with all types of qualitative or quantitative design published since 2007 in English, French or German were included if a virtual reality intervention was examined in a dementia care education setting (e.g. nursing school, caregiver training). The literature search was conducted in six databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection, ERIC, and Inspec), including an additional hand search as well as backward and forward citation tracking of included studies. Charted data was narratively reported by clustering results according to study characteristics and impact of virtual reality. The review process resulted in the inclusion of six studies published between 2012 and 2017. Two of them are ongoing studies. Three studies had a one group pre-post-test design and in one study a post-test only design was applied. The samples consisted of caregivers of people with dementia as well as students and varied in size between seven and 126. Eight different outcomes were measured, e.g. empathy, competence, and stress. Interventions resulted in improvements of caregivers' and students' empathy and competences among other outcomes. No studies with controlled design and group comparisons are available yet. There are some indications that virtual reality might be an effective intervention to train caregivers of persons with dementia. Little is known about the use and impact of virtual reality in dementia-related education. Since studies are rare and do not address effectiveness, the findings of this review can substantially contribute to guide further research on this topic. •Virtual reality might enhance simulation in nursing education•Little is known about the use and impact of virtual reality in dementia care education for students and caregivers•No studies with controlled design and group comparisons are available yet•This scoping review indicates the need for further empirical research on this topic