De invloed van Virtual-Reality psycho-educatie op leerkrachtcompetenties bij kinderen met traumagerelateerde klachten

Childhood trauma can lead to behavioural and learning difficulties in the classroom. Teachers often have limited knowledge or skills to recognise and respond effectively to trauma-related behaviour, which may result in unintentionally punitive or distant reactions. It is therefore essential to support teachers in developing trauma-sensitive practices. Virtual reality (VR) offers an innovative opportunity to provide experiential learning that can strengthen teachers’ insight into the perspectives of traumatised students. The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which VR-based psych-education contributes to increasing teachers’ knowledge of PTSD symptoms, empathy, and perceived competence, compared to regular psych-education. In addition, the study explored whether teaching experience influences the effectiveness of the intervention. A total of 36 Dutch primary and special education teachers participated in either a VR intervention or regular psychoeducation. Before and...Show moreChildhood trauma can lead to behavioural and learning difficulties in the classroom. Teachers often have limited knowledge or skills to recognise and respond effectively to trauma-related behaviour, which may result in unintentionally punitive or distant reactions. It is therefore essential to support teachers in developing trauma-sensitive practices. Virtual reality (VR) offers an innovative opportunity to provide experiential learning that can strengthen teachers’ insight into the perspectives of traumatised students. The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which VR-based psych-education contributes to increasing teachers’ knowledge of PTSD symptoms, empathy, and perceived competence, compared to regular psych-education. In addition, the study explored whether teaching experience influences the effectiveness of the intervention. A total of 36 Dutch primary and special education teachers participated in either a VR intervention or regular psychoeducation. Before and directly after the intervention, participants completed questionnaires on PTSD-related knowledge, perceived competence, and empathy. The results showed improvements across all outcome measures in both conditions. There were no differences found between the VR group and the regular psych-education group. Teaching experience did not affect the outcomes. Inexperienced teachers and experienced teachers benefited similarlar. The lack of an additional VR effect can be explained by the short VR session time, the lack of interactive opportunities, technical difficulties which caused cognitive load, and the fact that the content was heavily overlapped with regular psych-education. Although VR did not demonstrate added value over regular psych-education in this study, it remains a promising tool. The potential of VR to develop empathy and practice-related skills can possibly be enhanced by longer and more interactive VR-sessions that are repeated. These findings emphasise the importance of structurally embedding psych-education in teacher training and suggest that VR may serve as a valuable complement to existing programmes when carefully implemented.Show less

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De invloed van Virtual-Reality psycho-educatie op leerkrachtcompetenties bij kinderen met traumagerelateerde klachten