Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Feb 6, 2025
Date Accepted: Jul 30, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Virtual reality for workplace violence training of healthcare workers: A mixed-methods usability study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Workplace violence (WPV) in healthcare is a significant issue that affects frontline providers, patients, and visitors. Healthcare systems and regulatory organizations seek to mitigate this problem by training frontline healthcare providers with essential skills for de-escalation procedures.
Objective:
This study assessed the usability of a proof-of-concept virtual reality (VR) training course for WPV prevention and intervention with frontline healthcare workers.
Methods:
A cross-sectional, mixed-methods study was conducted with 13 frontline healthcare providers. A multicomponent training consisting of four training modules on WPV was developed and deployed in a virtual reality environment. Participants engaged with each module while providing qualitative feedback. Qualitative feedback was analyzed using rapid qualitative analysis technique. After completing the training pilot, participants filled out surveys on usability (System Usability Scale), user experience (mini-Player Experience Inventory), and shared feedback via Reaction Cards.
Results:
We identified four themes from qualitative feedback: (1) Perceived Value, (2) Technical and Navigational Barriers, (3) User Preferences, and (4) Vision. Participants described the VR training modules as refreshing and noted areas for improvements in the tone and emotional responses from non-player characters. Participants perceived the VR training modules positively, with room for improvement towards the usability (M = 63.30, SD = 9.53). Participants found the VR training manageable and learned to operate VR quickly. Despite this, participants may have required technical support to initiate VR training. The user experience was overall engaging (M = 5.23, SD = 1.34), and participants described the VR content and their experience as "valuable," "engaging," and "creative” via the reaction cards.
Conclusions:
VR training has the potential to be a useful WPV training tool. Refining course content may improve the usability of VR while offering an immersive, hands-on, and safe learning environment for healthcare workers. Further research may compare VR WPV trainings with traditional trainings to evaluate short- and long-term training effectiveness.
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Copyright
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