Impact of being immersed in an elderly patient’s shoes confronted to non empathic ageist attitudes on ageism and empathy Comparison of two methods: Immersive 360 videos and 2D computer screen

Lack of empathy and negative stereotypes, such as ageism, are two important barriers for an effective patient/clinician relationship (Elliott, et al. 2018; Schroyen et al., 2018). Some techniques have been developed to reduce negative perceptions of ageing and favor empathy such as taking the perspective of an older person through more or less immersive tools and have shown encouraging results (e.g. game; virtual reality) (Adefila, et al. 2016; Pacala et al. 2006). The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of a 360° immersive video that immerses the participant in the shoes of an elderly patient confronted with (1) a non-ageist empathic clinician and (2) a non-ageist empathic clinician during a psychological interview. We hypothesized that, confronted through these immersions, participants will identify negative impacts of ageist attitudes, which may help to increase empathy and reduce ageism. A control group watched the same videos on a 2D computer screen. Fifty psychological students were randomized to one of the two conditions. Before and after immersion, participants had to complete questionnaires assessing empathy and ageism. Results shows a positive effect of time in both conditions on empathy (JSE1 (Hojat et al., 2002) ; p<.001; n²=0.959) and a decrease of hostile ambivalent ageism (AAS (Cary et al. 2017) ; p<.003; n²=0.021) (See table 1 and figure 1). No condition effects were revealed, which should question the additional benefit of immersive videos in this context. However, as most of results lack of power, further studies should replicate this study to confirm this result.