Education Commons^™

Amputee Perspectives Of Virtual Patient Education, Sandra L. Winkler, Michelle Schlesinger, Krueger Alice, Ann Ludwig

The Qualitative Report

Amputees have expressed the need for more information on the recovery path that follows amputation. Inclusion of education in the amputation rehabilitation process empowers amputees to make decisions about their options and form realistic expectations. Virtual worlds are effective as healthcare support communities because they provide both synchronous and asynchrous communication, voice enabled technology, file sharing and more, enhanced by immersion in a visually stimulating and interactive 3-D environment. The objective of this research was to discover how a virtual world could be used to address amputees’ educational needs. A focus group of three lower limb amputees ages ranging from …