Empathy Unfolding: Immersive Learning and Neuroeducation Insights through eXtended Reality Simulation

This session explores applications of extended reality (XR) simulation to deliver immersive story interventions in a nursing education program to address the complex and multidimensional problem of declining empathetic concern among nursing students. This disproportionately impacts low-income and culturally/linguistically diverse patient communities. Results of neuroeducational doctoral research carried out through the San Diego State University Virtual Immersive Teaching and Learning (VITaL) Research Center indicate that immersive story interventions can strengthen empathy-based competence alongside core technical skills when coupled with reflective learning activities. The quantitative neuroeducation findings are transferable to other disciplines and align with neuroscience research showing strong correlations between compelling storytelling, neurological immersion, and empathetic behaviors. Qualitative data from focus group reflections identified that advocates and self-advocacy are crucial to improving patient care and outcomes. These results provide an actionable solution to address declining empathetic concern among nursing students and are transferable to improve learning outcomes that can benefit from empathy through a transdisciplinary, innovative digital transformation of educational simulation.