At Bar-Ilan’s UnBox entrepreneurship centre, a virtual reality initiative is being developed to increase empathy between people. The VR technology has the ability to make users share feelings and literally walk in one another’s shoes.
Prof. Moti Neiger, from Bar-Ilan’s School of Communication, has developed a tool that harnesses these technological capabilities to bridge the gaps between service providers and patients in the health care system.
The project is a response to crisis situations between doctors and patients, creating a VR experience that simulates violent situations in hospitals. The participants experience the situation through the VR glasses both from the patients’ point of view and from the point of view of the medical staff. The feelings that arise during the viewing, and the experience of different levels of escalation, teach and influence how the participants will deal with hostile situations in the future. This technology can prevent deterioration to violence not only in health institutions, but also in schools and the business world.
