SOLIDARIS 7th NEWSLETTER

Using virtual reality for health teaching

Fonte: Nunes et al. (2013)

The University of Pernambuco has been developing a project that was created within the SOLIDARIS project. It is a proposal that aims to use ICT to promote greater inclusion of children with cancer in the hospital class at the Paediatric Oncohematology Centre of the Oswaldo Cruz University Hospital. The project has the participation of teachers from the Catholic University of Pernambuco, teachers from the hospital promotion, a student of the Master’s degree in health sciences and a student of the medical course and teachers from UPE. As first promotional material, we present a summary of an article submitted and accepted for publication in an inclusion journal. 

“Virtual Reality (VR) can be defined as a real or simulated environment, which offers several simultaneous stimuli, allowing the user to feel immersed in this environment. Given that virtual reality needs constant innovation, this review aims to evaluate its use for hospice education through a systematic literature review. The literature survey was conducted in the Virtual Health Library and in the journal Nuevas Tecnologías en la Educación. The search for descriptors in the databases resulted in 162 articles, of which seven were selected according to the inclusion criteria. The results show that virtual reality facilitates user interaction with computer applications, interacting in real time and revealing itself as a realistic three-dimensional medium. In conclusion, the results present VR as an important resource for the training and education of health professionals in an inclusive perspective.” 

Brenda Maria de Aguiar, Matheus Avila Mattos Gomes; Anthony Jose da Cunha Carneiro Lins, Maria Tereza Cartaxo Muniz. 

Research in times of COVID

 

Postgraduate, master’s and doctoral students from the Faculty of Nursing Nossa Senhora das Graças of the University of Pernambuco – FENSG/UPE, participate in the research entitled “Family and higher education: approaches to competencies, human development and social inclusion”. But how to develop research in times of coronavirus? The proposal used by master’s student Bruna Gabriela under the guidance of Professor Betânia da Mata involves the participation of students through an online form applied through the Google Forms platform, in which the answers are automatically formatted. Given the impossibility of interviewing students to continue the project, new alternatives are being created so that the research can continue to be carried out within the programme’s deadlines. It has not been an easy task, although new alternatives are being created, such as participation in the students’ virtual classes to raise awareness of the importance of answering the form for the scientific development of the university. This research is part of a wider research proposal, whose thematic project is “SOLIDARIS: Inclusive Universities – Key competences of the university community for the development of active citizenship”. 

SOLIDARIS and sign language

It is a great pleasure to present one of the most brilliant productions of our PIAS of the SOLIDARIS Network at UEPB:   LIBRAS – Anatomía Humana Modulo 1, coordinated by Professor Aline dos Santos de Maman, by the sign language interpreter Herbert Costa do Rêgo and by the student Thaís Fernanda Henriques.

This is a human anatomy teaching material in sign language, specifically for deaf students enrolled in undergraduate courses in biological and health sciences. This edition covers the bones of the skull and their main anatomical features. Each anatomical structure is represented by: name and succinct text, written in Portuguese and English; sequence of movements that constitute the sign of the respective name of the anatomical structure in sign language; photograph of the anatomical structure.  

In this work we used existing sign language labels, and we also created sign language labels for the anatomical structures that did not already have them. Each created sign was evaluated by an examining board of deaf sign language professionals and specialists. Future editions of this work will address the other parts of the skeleton as well as other systems of the human organism within the outreach programme of the SOLIDARIS Network at UEPB.