Revolutionising professional dementia care with virtual reality training

Dementia prevalence is rising as it becomes Australia’s leading cause of death, bringing with it an increase in the volume and complexity of care needs.

At the same time, workforce pressures and new compliance and standards requirements are contributing to a more challenging environment for health workers.

For leaders in aged care, home and community care, training their staff effectively is more important than ever.

Training staff in dementia care skills while maintaining their safety and the safety of their residents requires both innovation and sensitivity.

But this is a real challenge – how can dementia-care staff build empathy and understanding, develop practical skills and test creative strategies without directly involving a person living with dementia?

Safe, realistic, experiential virtual reality dementia training

Dementia Australia’s suite of virtual reality (VR) professional training tools is designed with exactly this goal in mind: to provide evidence-based, experiential dementia care training in a safe, repeatable environment.

Our facilitated in-person virtual reality workshops combine classroom learning with immersive experiences, during which staff don VR headsets and step into the shoes of a person living with dementia and experience the impact of dementia on everyday living.

Using virtual settings, staff are immersed in simulated environments to experience real-life dementia care scenarios and apply their learning. The focus is on person-centred care and the support, safety and wellbeing of people living with dementia whilst also looking after themselves.

Dementia Australia’s virtual reality training workshops include:

Enabling EDIE
Delivered onsite to your team, this three-hour workshop includes EDIE a virtual reality simulation that enables participants to see the world through the eyes of a person living with dementia.

This workshop enhances your staff’s knowledge of the impact of dementia while building empathy and exploring enablement strategies to support a person living with dementia to live more confidently.

Dine with Ted
In this workshop your staff will be immersed in a dining experience through the eyes of Priya, a personal care worker, and then again through the eyes of Ted, a person living with dementia. The same scenario is experienced through providing care and receiving care.

By improving the dining experience, staff contribute to reduced changed behaviours and incidents related to poor nutrition and dehydration, and increased staff productivity.

Trusted VR training leads to higher staff retention

Dementia Australia’s person-centred, outcomes-led VR training helps staff quickly build skills and retain knowledge.

And because the training is experiential, involving interactions with a realistic virtual person living with dementia, it also helps staff build empathy and insight that can’t be replicated with other training methods.

Well-trained staff record higher job satisfaction, feel better prepared in real-life situations and are more likely to stay longer in roles, reducing staff attrition.

A recent Swinburne University evaluation found that participants completing a VR-supported workshop gained empathy three-fold more for a person living with dementia than participants in a non-VR workshop. They responded from the perspective of a person living with dementia, rather than a carer’s perspective.

The VR experience moved a carer’s perspective and improved care practices, helping people living with dementia to have an improved quality of life in residential care and the community.

In this video, Linda Kearton from St Vincent’s Care in Victoria describes the change Dementia Australia’s VR training has made to her workforce:

Transforming dementia care with virtual reality training

In a competitive environment, with new standards, a growing number of residents, and challenging care environments, the best possible dementia care training for staff is essential.

Dementia Australia is the leading provider in VR dementia training, both in Australia and internationally. As the Swinburne evaluation shows, evidence-based, person-centred and outcomes-oriented workshops supported by VR enrich the experience of the resident, elevate the skills and insight of the workforce and advance the business and compliance needs of the organisation.

Our flexible and adaptive virtual reality group workshops for your staff are available in all Australian states and territories. To find out more about bringing exceptional VR dementia training to your staff, visit our virtual reality dementia training page.