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🩺 Ethnoacting in VR for Cognitive Empathy in Nurses

🩺 Ethnoacting in VR for Cognitive Empathy in Nurses

Pilot Study | University of East London | March 2025

❤️ Why Cognitive Empathy? Developing cognitive empathy is vital for nursing students and practitioners to understand patients’ feelings and provide compassionate care. Traditional role-play methods can be challenging or limiting, so this study explores an innovative VR-based alternative grounded in dramatic techniques.

🎭 The Approach Based on the Interacting Cognitive Subsystems (ICS) theory from psychology, this intervention:

  1. Uses Ethnoacting to embody patient experiences without needing group performances
  2. Immerses nurses in VR scenarios that foster a deep understanding of patient feelings
  3. Focuses on individual internalisation rather than group role-play dynamics
  4. This method aims to enhance cognitive empathy skills while respecting the practical realities of nursing education.

🧪 The Pilot Tested in March 2025 with nursing students and apprentices actively working in healthcare, the pilot included:

  1. Immersive VR sessions juxtaposing patient perspectives with nurse attitudes
  2. Survey research and statistical analysis to measure effectiveness
  3. Qualitative feedback highlighting positive experiences and a focus on authentic patient understanding
  4. Results show promising evidence for VR as a powerful tool to cultivate empathy in healthcare education.

📚 Forthcoming Publication The full findings will be published in:

Stamatiou, E., Cox, G., Thoma, V., Balla, G. & Sanni, O. (forthcoming 2026). Ethnoacting in VR for Cognitive Empathy in Nurses: An Equivalent to Role-Playing in Healthcare Education. In Tizzard-Kleister & Firth, T. (Eds.), Using Applied Drama in Nursing and Healthcare Education: A Handbook for Educators. Routledge.

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