The Effectiveness of Visually Enhanced Mental Simulation (VEMS) in Teacher Candidates' Emergency Response to Epileptic Seizures and Attitudes Toward Epilepsy

• In Event: Diverse studies exploring educational topics: internationalisation, etwining, compulsory attendance, and online learning platforms

Proposal

Background: In educational settings, teachers' ability to respond to students experiencing epileptic seizures and their attitudes toward epilepsy are critical for ensuring student well-being. The literature shows that teachers lack knowledge and experience in recognizing and responding to emergencies of students experiencing epileptic seizures (Yang et al., 2021).
Objective: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a Visually Enhanced Mental Simulation (VEMS) in improving teacher candidates' emergency response skills during students' epileptic seizures and their attitudes toward epilepsy.
Design: The study follows a quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test design.
Participants and Setting: The study involved teacher candidates (N=633) from a university's Faculty of Education in Turkiye, with a sample of 35 participants who volunteered and met the inclusion criteria.
Methods: Participants attended a face-to-face theoretical lesson that covered the different types of epileptic seizures, with a specific focus on the emergency response to tonic-clonic seizures. A pre-assessment was administered one week after completing the theoretical lesson to evaluate their initial understanding. This was followed by VEMS training, which included debriefing sessions conducted one week after the pre-assessment. Five days post-simulation, a final assessment was conducted. The VEMS instructional materials for pre- and post-test scenarios were developed using an AI-based tool. The "Social Attitudes Towards Childhood Epilepsies Scale" was administered before the theoretical training and after the final evaluations. Data were analyzed using SPSS with frequency, percentage, and Wilcoxon tests.
Results: The mean age of participants was 22.37±0.83, and 77.8% were female. Initial scores on the "Social Attitudes Towards Childhood Epilepsies Scale" scale averaged 23.86±4.01, while final scores averaged 20.60±3.91, reflecting a statistically significant difference (p<0.001). The pre-simulation score for seizure management was 79.55±23.92, and the post-simulation score was 117.55±9.57, also showing a significant improvement (p<0.001).
Conclusions: The findings demonstrate that participants developed more positive attitudes toward childhood epilepsy and improved their emergency response skills for epileptic seizures by the end of the training. VEMS is recommended as an effective educational tool for enhancing teacher candidates' ability to manage health-related emergencies in schools and fostering an inclusive educational environment.

Author

• Ebru Bag, Centennial College