Development and Evaluation of a 360-Degree Video on Home Care in Undergraduate Health Sciences Education

Access to authentic clinical learning experiences is often limited for undergraduate Health Sciences students. Immersive technologies such as 360-degree video may help bridge this gap, yet evidence regarding their use in home care education and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) remains scarce. To address this gap, we used a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach to develop and implement a 360-degree video-based home care learning experience and evaluated students' perceptions of the video, VR headsets, and associated educational formats across three curricular tracks. The experiences of 251 undergraduate Health Sciences students across three different tracks (Policy, Mental Health and Digital) at Maastricht University were studied. Each track offered a different educational format using the 360-degree video as part of its Problem-Based Learning (PBL) curriculum. Students responded once to a combination of self-developed and standardized questionnaires, which included subscales from the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3) and the Video Transportation Scale (VTS). A DBR approach facilitated the iterative development and implementation of a 360-degree video-based home care learning experience embedded within a Problem-Based Learning curriculum. The intervention was successfully integrated across three tracks without compromising key PBL principles. Students generally perceived the 360-degree video and associated educational formats positively, particularly appreciating the opportunities for interaction and contextualized learning. The findings suggest that immersive 360-degree video delivered through VR headsets is a feasible and acceptable educational approach for undergraduate Health Sciences students and may provide meaningful exposure to clinical practice when access to placements is limited.