JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Early detection of cancer and provision of appropriate treatment can increase the cancer cure rate and reduce cancer-related deaths. Early detection requires improving the cancer screening quality of each medical institution and enhancing the capabilities of health professionals through tailored education in each field. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, regional disparities in educational infrastructure emerged, and educational accessibility was restricted. The demand for remote cancer education services to address these issues has increased and, in this study, we considered medical metaverses a potential means of meeting these needs. In 2021, we developed Dr. Meta, a multidomain metaverse cancer care digital platform. Among the multiple subplatforms in the Dr. Meta metaverse platform, Metaverse Educational Center was developed for the virtual training of health professionals. In 2022, we used Metaverse Educational Center to train radiologic technologists remotely in mammography positioning.

Objective:

This study aimed to investigate the user experience of Metaverse Educational Center and identify variables associated with the intention to continuously use the subplatform.

Methods:

We conducted a multicenter, cross-sectional survey between July and December 2022. We performed a descriptive analysis to examine the Metaverse Educational Center user experience and a logistic regression analysis to clarify factors closely related to the intention to use the subplatform continuously. Additionally, a supplementary open-ended question was used to obtain feedback from users to improve Metaverse Educational Center.

Results:

Responses from 192 Korean participants (male: n=16, 8.3% and female: n=176, 91.7%) were analyzed. More than half of the participants were satisfied with Metaverse Educational Center (178/192, 92.7%) and wanted to continue using the subplatform in the future (157/192, 81.8%). Less than half of the participants had no difficulty in wearing the device (85/192, 44.3%). Logistic regression analysis results showed that intention for continuous use was associated with satisfaction (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]=3.542 [1.037-12.097]; P=.044), immersion (2.803 [1.201-6.539]; P=.017), and no difficulty in wearing the device (2.020 [1.004-4.062]; P=.049). However, intention for continuous use was not associated with interest (0.736 [0.303-1.789]; P=.499) or perceived ease of use (1.284 [0.614-2.685]; P=.507). According to the qualitative feedback, Metaverse Educational Center was useful in cancer education, but the experience of wearing the device and the types and qualities of the content still need to be improved.

Conclusions:

Our results demonstrate the potential of Metaverse Educational Center for remote cancer education for health professionals. Our results also suggest that improving users’ satisfaction and immersion and ensuring lack of difficulty in wearing the device may enhance their intention for continuous use of the subplatform.