Development and Effect of Virtual Reality Practice Program for Improving Practical Competency of Caregivers Specializing in Dementia

Abstract

The number of dementia patients in Korea is increasing with the increase in the elderly population. Accordingly, the importance of the role of the caregivers, who are the main care worker other than the family, is increasing. Therefore, in this study, a virtual reality practice program was developed to enhance the practical competency of caregivers who take care of dementia patients, and the effects were analyzed. The caregiver said that among the mental behaviors of dementia patients, aggression and delusion were the most difficult. Based on this information, a practice program was developed by realizing a case of a male dementia patient who expressed refusal to bathing help as an aggressive behavior due to delusion in virtual reality, and the effect of the virtual reality practice program was analyzed for five caregivers. As a result, ‘interest in new teaching methods’, ‘improving concentration of practical education based on real cases’, and ‘increasing confidence in caring for dementia patients’ were found. As this study is a pilot test, it is necessary to repeat the study with more subjects in the future, and to develop virtual reality implementation cases for various mental and behavioral symptoms.