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Sensory Simulation Builds Empathy in Healthcare Students for People with Dementia

耶娜·韦伯21年的追梦 物理治疗博士 degree at 威尼斯游戏大厅 has steered her toward opportunities to learn more about how to care for people with dementia. Personally motivated in her studies by seeing the effects of dementia on her two grandfathers, she eagerly embraced a chance to experience a dementia simulation offered in one of her classes.

"Being able to understand what they're going through from a physical perspective and actually experience it ourselves rather than being like, “好吧, 是的, 这是我在书上读到的,给了我们更多的知识,韦伯说, who plans to graduate with her 物理治疗博士 degree in 2023. "We have a better understanding, so we can kind of empathize with them more."

Carroll is the only four-year institution of higher education in Wisconsin right now to offer the Virtual Dementia Tour (VDT). P.K. Beville, an award-winning geriatric specialist and founder of the nonprofit Second Wind Dreams, 总部设在罗斯威尔, 乔治亚州, 创建模拟. 根据组织, the simulation immerses participants in a dementia experience, so they gain an understanding and build empathy for people living with dementia.

The simulation makes it difficult for participants to interpret their environment by confusing their senses. 戴特殊护目镜, 手套, shoe inserts and headphones they enter a two-room simulation setting in the 沃基肖 Free Clinic at 威尼斯游戏大厅, where they have eight minutes to complete a list of five tasks. A second VDT experience is also available to nursing students inside on-campus labs to simulate a hospital setting.

韦伯说，进入模拟室, she felt anxious and overwhelmed by the various obstacles that accompanied the assigned tasks. 在模拟结束时, she had gained a better understanding of not only what her family members have gone through with dementia, but what others might experience as she cares for them.

“我想，‘哦，哇. 这就是人们所经历的，’”她说. "I understood how frustrating it was to complete those tasks independently because there are just so many things that could go wrong."

As the population of the United States ages and the numbers grow for people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (ADRD), the training for healthcare workers is inadequate to deal with the crisis, Karie Ruekert Kobiske说, Ph.D., R.N. Kobiske是Carroll's的主管 护理学硕士 项目和临床护理副教授. 她和萨拉·德普雷, PT, associate professor and chair of Carroll's 物理治疗 Department, 卡罗尔的两个vdt认证培训师吗.

“Sara and I are determined to provide geriatric education to these students so that they are able to better care for our aging society,Kobiske说. Because healthcare students are usually under the age of 30, 其中大多数是20岁出头的年轻人, the “life experience for these students has limited understanding of dementia,”她说。.

Kobiske notes that current projections show that as the U.S. population increases, chronic illnesses such as ADRD will increase from 6.到2021年将有200万美国人.到2025年，这一数字将达到200万，并超过1300万.到2060年将达到800万.

With such statistics in mind and determined to strengthen the healthcare workforce to tackle such issues, Kobiske and Deprey traveled to Atlanta to receive training from Second Wind Dreams in February of 2020. A $15,000 grant from Bader Philanthropies to develop geriatric education for Carroll’s health science students helped fund the training. They also received additional funds for supplies through a 威尼斯游戏大厅 Faculty Development grant.

“我希望这能有所作为. 我非常兴奋, and it actually brought tears to my eyes after we read the qualitative data (written feedback from students) that we got back that, ‘嘿, 这个工作.' We did something and it worked and it was really great and the students were moved and are changing the way they work with older people,Kobiske说.

Deprey added, “We've had many students that it really had an emotional impact. 作为老师，我不可能做到这一点. 我就是做不到. 他们能体验到这种感觉真好.”

About 500 nursing and physical therapy students have participated in the VDT since Carroll added it to the curriculum in the fall of 2020. Instructors anticipate about 350 students will annually undergo the training, 哪一个, 据Second Wind Dreams报道, has also been experienced by 3 million people in 20 countries.

通过VDT体验, Second Wind Dreams hopes to influence the type of care that will be offered to adults as they age in all settings, 格温妮丝·约翰逊说, 该组织的首席执行官. She said the VDT is designed to change the perception of aging.

"Each person who develops a greater understanding of dementia will move us closer to a dementia- and age-friendly society,约翰逊说. “当我们努力创造这种理解时, dispel fear and create relationships at the grassroots level, we change the world where we will age – and our ability to age well."


虚拟痴呆之旅，由P.K. Beville, is a scientifically-proven method of building a greater understanding of dementia through the use of patented sensory tools and instruction. Proceeds from the sale of the Virtual Dementia Tour support the work of Second Wind Dreams, an internationally known nonprofit dedicated to changing the perception of aging through the fulfillment of elders' dreams.