Date of Award
2025-5
Degree Name
PhD Leadership Studies
Dissertation Committee
Marcus Lam, PhD, Chairperson; Fred J. Galloway, EdD, Member; Deanna Johnston, PhD, Member
Keywords
Nursing, Virtual Reality, VR, Simulation, Nursing Students
Abstract
Virtual Reality (VR) is an emerging technology being utilized in educational and professional training in fields such as engineering, heavy industry, and the military. VR also has the potential to be utilized in pre-licensing nursing education; however, nursing programs have been slow to adopt VR as a simulation modality to train pre-licensed nurses in clinical skills. As such, there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of VR training in critical skills that nurses will utilize in clinical settings. This research is vital because utilizing VR as a training tool can reduce the time and cost of preparing nurses to enter clinical settings. This study examines the extent to which VR is effective in training nursing students in clinical skills via a randomized control design (post-test only). Data was collected from two cohorts of first-year nursing students who were randomly assigned to a VR intervention group (n = 41) or to a control group that did not have access to the VR platform (n = 42). Students in the intervention group accessed VR training for 20-minute sessions (over 1 week), at the end of which both the intervention and control group engaged in a live 30-minute simulation, assessed by the course instructor. The primary outcome is clinical skills, operationalized as performance on a live simulation (scored on a 36-point scale). Additionally, qualitative data were collected from the intervention group on how students felt about VR as an overall enhancement to their learning. Differences in performance scores were compared between the control and intervention groups as well as for subgroups by gender, race, and age. Additional analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between the intensity of VR use and performance outcomes. Findings suggest statistically significant differences by gender in the intervention group and a statistically significant relationship between intensity of VR use and performance outcomes, but not in the anticipated direction. Data from course evaluations indicated that students viewed VR as an enhancement to their learning, although in running a t-test, I found that the results were not statistically significant. Findings of the study provide insights into ways VR can be used within nursing education.
Document Type
Dissertation: Open Access
Department
Leadership Studies
Digital USD Citation
Haigh, David R., "Virtual Reality and Nursing Education: A Randomized Control Trial of the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality as a Simulation Modality" (2025). Dissertations. 1051.
https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations/1051
Copyright
Copyright held by the author
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Educational Technology Commons, Instructional Media Design Commons
