Analysis of cybersickness in virtual nursing simulation: a German longitudinal study.

Background: Innovative educational approaches such as simulation-based nursing education using virtual reality (VR) technologies provide new opportunities for nursing education. However, there is a lack of information on side effects, especially health-related side effects, of head-mounted displays (HMDs) on the human body when using VR devices for nursing simulation. This study aims to validate the German version of the Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire (VRSQ) and to evaluate its associations with sex and age, as reflected in the VRSQ scores (total score, oculomotor, and disorientation) over time.

Methods: A longitudinal-sectional study was conducted. In addition to the VRSQ (pre-, post-, and 20 min post-intervention), participants (all nursing students) completed data on personal characteristics. Participants completed a VR simulation of a blood draw. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate whether the measured construct was consistent with the original. In addition to the validity, internal consistency was analyzed and generalized linear models (GLMs) were used for data analysis.

Results: A total of 38 nursing students (mean age 26.8 years; SD = 7.1, 79.0% female) participated. The mean time spent in the VR simulation was 21 min. All participants completed the entire simulation. The CFA indicates (CFI = 0.981, SRMR = 0.040) VRSQ structure is given. Internal consistency showed low values for the subdomain Oculomotor (Cronbach alpha 0.670). For Disorientation and the Total score values showed a sufficient internal consistency. GLMs showed significant between subject associations with age over time with VRSQ total score, oculomotor, and disorientation. Older nursing students start with higher VRSQ-Scores. Over time, an approximation occurs, so that all participants reach a similar level by the final measurement point. No associations were found between sex (male/female) and VRSQ scores.

Conclusions: The VRSQ is a reliable and valid self-assessment for measuring cybersickness in VR based nursing simulations, with cybersickness symptoms positively associated with age. However, in depth-evaluation regarding age-associations with cybersickness should be done. As well as studies to explore additional associations and emphasizes the importance of establishing cut-off values to assess the clinical relevance of the scores.