VR Training for Nursing Care at Home
Wanted: Nursing Relatives as Test Persons for St. Pölten UAS Research Project
Nursing care is playing an increasingly important role in our social lives. The majority of persons in need of care are looked after in their home environment, while the share of persons living in nursing homes is much lower.
Nevertheless, nursing relatives still have very few training options tailored to their needs. A research project coordinated by the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences is developing a training programme using Virtual Reality (VR) for this purpose. The project team are currently looking for caregivers as test persons.
Not Enough Training Offers for Caregivers
“There are currently very few trainings for nursing relatives that cater to their specific needs. In addition, the available training courses are time-consuming and are frequently offered only in training facilities far away. Caregivers would incur additional costs by having relatives cared for by third parties during that time”, explains Manuel Schwanda, deputy Academic Director of the St. Pölten UAS’ study programme Healthcare and NursingPLUS and head of the research project.
Extended Reality (XR) training environments – in other words, computer-generated virtual environments – are one way of improving the affected persons’ situation. They make it possible to carry out trainings in the home environment and are a promising alternative to conventional training programmes.
Testing the Virtual Training Programme
Together with its project partners, the St. Pölten UAS has developed a virtual practical training programme and is now inviting nursing relatives to the UAS to test the training programme within the framework of an evaluation study and give feedback:
- Date: 20 or 21 November 2023
- Place: St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences
- Duration: approx. 2 hours
If you are interested, please send an email to manuel.schwanda@fhstp.ac.at indicating your preferred date (either 20 or 21 November). Prospective participants will receive further information.
Project immtaCare – Immersive Technology-Assisted Nursing Education and Training
Partners in the project are Caritas, the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund, and the Interessengemeinschaft pflegender Angehöriger (interest group of nursing relatives). The Lower Austrian Chamber of Labour sponsors the project via the project fund Arbeit 4.0.
