Second life is an interesting tool that health care is exploring for patient education, raising awareness, health promotion and prevention activities as well as providing emotional support. More research is needed to identify if participation in virtual reality education and support will transfer to real world behavior changes, improved quality of life and clinical outcomes.
As a diabetes educator, I can see potential benefits and opportunities to enhance the patient-provider relationship as well as the nurse educator patient relationship. Second Life may provide an opportunity to increase access to diabetes education services and overcome some of the barriers to diabetes education. Most comprehensive diabetes education programs exist in metropolitan areas and are attached to large medical centers. It can be extremely difficult in rural areas for people to participate in education without traveling a long distance from home. In addition, many educational programs occur during the work day which limits younger, working individuals from participating. Second Life can eliminate these barriers since the patient can participate from their home, at a time that may be more convenient.
In addition, most diabetes education programs are conducted in a group format due to both staffing limitations as well as insurance requirements. Typically more women participate in diabetes education groups. However research on Second life users indicate a younger population with slightly more men that participate. This fact may encourage more men to engage in health education, health promotion and prevention programs through a virtual medium.
The anonymity may be an important feature for some users that are not comfortable discussing their medical conditions in a group setting. Questions patients may not be at ease inquiring about may be discussed somewhat anonymously while retaining a comfort level that many desire. This is especially important for issues that are difficult to discuss such erectile dysfunction (ED) a common complication associated with diabetes
A few studies have shown that behaviors learned in the virtual world can translate to the real world. I think more studies need to be implemented to validate this information. Recent NIH funding was awarded to a researcher from Boston University to study diabetes education in Second Life for black women. This study is a feasibility study to examine Second Life as a method for health education. Clinical outcomes will be monitored and compared to a control group that will participate in standard face-to-face diabetes education. I will be very interested to learn about the process and outcomes.
Although I believe there is potential, I think the applicable patient population is still small at present. I consider myself an “early adopter” internet user, and I participate in internet based educational courses, yet I am not sure I am ready for a Second Life educational course. I find the learning curve steep on how to navigate in-world. However, there is certainly a demographic that is not being reached in the educational environment that exists today. Maybe we should focus on this younger, internet savvy patient population now while the novel tool is evolving. We can evaluate, improve and enhance this educational method so that when mainstream population engages, we will have a robust, user friendly diabetes education platform in place.
I am excited for what is on the horizon and I look forward to exploring more opportunities “in-world” in the future. My avatar’s name is Ning Zise, say hello if you find me in Second Life!
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