Effects of Virtual Reality Simulation on Students’ Implicit Bias Toward Individuals With Disabilities

Attitudes and perceptions of individuals with disabilities can be shaped by one’s life experiences as well as how readily they interact with disabled individuals. As future healthcare professionals, students in healthcare-related academic programs must develop empathy and compassion for working with individuals with varying physical disabilities. Experiential learning has been shown to increase student engagement and provide ‘real-world’ experiences for students within the academic setting. Virtual reality is a technology that has the potential to provide an immersive experience for students. The purpose of this project was to allow undergraduate college students to experience the simulation of a disabling condition through an aging suit and virtual reality. The experience allowed students to complete a virtual reality experience of an activity of daily living (ADL) with and without using the aging suit. Students’ implicit bias toward individuals with disabilities was measured both pre-and post-in this study to determine if experiencing a simulation of a disability influences one’s implicit bias toward individuals with disabilities. A convenience sample of undergraduate Health Sciences (pre-OT) at Utica University was recruited for this project. Inclusion criteria were anyone at least 18 years of age and enrolled full-time as a Health Sciences student at the university. The students participated in a virtual reality simulation using the Real VR system. The Harvard Implicit Association Test (IAT) assessed pre- and post-intervention attitudes toward individuals with disabling conditions. Results showed a positive change in participants’ attitudes toward individuals with disabilities. Virtual reality technology has promising uses with students to provide experiential learning opportunities that might not be replicable otherwise. Providing future OT practitioners with hands-on simulation to produce better-prepared future clinicians.

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