Evaluating the Effects of Experiencing Mixed Reality Simulations of Symptoms of Schizophrenia on Empathy in Medical Students

Supervisors: Simon Ruffieux, Marine Capallera, Marie Charrière-Mondoux, Elena Mugellini, Denis Lalanne

Contact person: Simon Ruffieux

Student: Ann Kiener

Project status: Finished

Year: 2024

The student was taked with implementing a mixed reality simulation to let medical students experience visual and/or auditory hallucinations corresponding to schyzophrenia. The implementation shall be evaluated through user-centered studies with medical students to infer if the proposed solution can yield more empathy than traditional approaches.

This thesis presents a Mixed Reality (MR) simulation designed to enhance empathy in medical students towards patients with schizophrenia. The simulation utilizes MR technology to immerse users in the experiences of individuals with chizophrenia, allowing them to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by patients, with the focus on auditory hallucinations as symptoms. The user study involved a pretest–posttest design approach, conducted on 29 students, incorporating feedback from healthcare professionals to ensure the simulations effectiveness and relevance. The results indicate that the MR experience shows potential to increase empathy in medical students, however further research opportunities should be taken in order to improve the findings of this project.

Keywords: Mixed Reality, Simulation, Schyzophrenia, Empathy, User-centered Study

Document: report.pdf