A pilot feasibility study of virtual patient simulation to enhance social work students’ brief mental health assessment skills
Abstract
This study presents preliminary feasibility and acceptability data on the use of virtual patient (VP) simulations to develop brief assessment skills within an interdisciplinary care setting. Results support the acceptability of technology-enhanced simulations and offer preliminary evidence for an association between engagement in VP practice simulations and improvements in diagnostic accuracy and clinical interviewing skills. Recommendations and next steps for research on technology-enhanced simulations within social work are discussed.
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The most frequently raised issue with conversational agents (9 studies) was poor understanding because of limited vocabulary, voice recognition accuracy, or error management of word inputs.
“The most frequently raised issue with conversational agents (9 studies) was poor understanding because of limited vocabulary, voice recognition accuracy, or error management of word inputs [13,32-37,41,52].”
From The Effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence Conversational Agents in Health Care: Systematic Review (2020) · cites this paper as [41]
In the 3 included studies of virtual patients, users in all 3 reported liking that it provided a platform for risk-free learning because they were not practicing on real patients.
“In the included studies, 3 of the conversational agents were virtual patients, and users in all 3 studies reported liking that it provided a platform for risk-free learning because they were not practicing on real patients [15,41,50].”
From The Effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence Conversational Agents in Health Care: Systematic Review (2020) · cites this paper as [41]
Only a few included studies discussed any improvement in health care provision or implications for resources.
“Unfortunately, only a few of the studies discussed any improvement in health care provision or implications for resources; 2 of the studies that suggested improvement in health care provision were evaluating virtual patients [41,50], and students in 1 study reported significantly increased confidence in their clinical skills and ability to interview patients.”
From The Effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence Conversational Agents in Health Care: Systematic Review (2020) · cites this paper as [41]
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“Outside of this forensic education, computer-based simulations have been used to develop mental health assessment skills in social work students, but only in nonforensic client scenarios (Washburn et al., 2016).”
The use of virtual patient simulations in psychology: A scoping review
Hossain, S. I., Kelson, J. N., & Morrison, B. W. (2024) · Australasian Journal of Educational Technology · doi:10.14742/ajet.9559 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Training for psychiatric assessments using virtual simulation
Stewart, C. J., & Mashmous, A. B. (2023) · The Journal of Mental Health Training Education and Practice · doi:10.1108/jmhtep-05-2022-0037 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Lanzieri, N., Samelson, H., McAlpin, E. C., & Shilane, D. A. (2020) · International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) · doi:10.23919/ilrn47897.2020.9155161 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Wood, D. S., Applegarth, D. M., Dennis, C. B., Kevern, T. C., & Limb, G. E. (2021) · Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment · doi:10.1080/10911359.2021.1992695 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“…and computer simulation training suggests that such approaches have potential for improving training outcomes in general mental health assessments (Washburn et al., 2016), substance use brief interventions (including SBIRT; Hitchcock et al., 2019; Smith et al., 2021), and general human services…”
BackgroundBoylan, P. M., Knisley, J., Wiskur, B. J., Nguyen, J. M., Lam, K., Hong, J., & Caballero, J. (2024) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.16977 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Results showed MSW students signi fi cantly improved their diagnostic assessment skills and performance within an objective structured clinical exam ( Washburn, Bordnick & Rizzo, 2016 ).”
BackgroundDialogue with Avatars in Simulation-Based Social Work Education: A Scoping Review
Vidman, Å., & Tham, P. (2024) · Social Sciences · doi:10.3390/socsci13110628 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Virtual Reality Training and Library Science Education: Examining the Possibilities
Williams, R. D., Dumas, C., & Flanagan, J. (2023) · Journal of Education for Library and Information Science · doi:10.3138/jelis-2022-0021 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“Finally, Washburn et al. (2016, 2020) found that training on conducting behavioral health assessments was easy to use and improved diagnostic accuracy.”
Kourgiantakis, T., Sewell, K. M., Ashcroft, R., & Lee, E. (2021) · Social Work Education · doi:10.1080/02615479.2021.1985104 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Avaliação da Aprendizagem no Ensino Superior: Reflexões em uma Perspectiva Andragógica
Pedrochi, O., Carvalho, D. F., da Silva, T. T. F., & da Costa, N. M. L. (2021) · Revista de Ensino Educação e Ciências Humanas · doi:10.17921/2447-8733.2021v22n1p43-51 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Tufford, L., Lee, B., Thieu, V., & Zhao, R. (2023) · Journal of Teaching in Social Work · doi:10.1080/08841233.2023.2266521 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“…of health (Cleland et al., 2009) and allied health professions (Motola et al., 2013; Ndiwane et al., 2014) and seen rapid expansion recently in social work education (Gellis & Kim, 2017; Pecukonis et al., 2016; Rawlings, 2012; Tufford et al., 2018; Washburn & Zhou, 2018; Washburn et al., 2016).”
BackgroundCreating an AI Powered VR Simulation Platform for Social Work Skill Development
Lanzieri, N., Dempsey, A., Olsen, A. F., Samelson, H., & Plass, J. L. (2025) · Journal of Technology in Human Services · doi:10.1080/15228835.2025.2565820 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“…more flexible, allowing for greater diversity and variability in terms of environment settings and exposing students to situations and populations they may otherwise not encounter in practicum (e.g., Bornheimer et al., 2024; Lanzieri et al., 2021; 2024; Vernon et al., 2009; Washburn et al., 2016).”
Simulations as a teaching strategy in Social Work training
Madrigal, C. R. (2021) · Ehquidad Revista Internacional de Políticas de Bienestar y Trabajo Social · doi:10.15257/ehquidad.2021.0011 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Sellers, C. M., Gavis-Hughson, S., Iriarte, A. D.-V., Dacey, E., & Collin, C.-R. R. (2025) · Social Work Education · doi:10.1080/02615479.2025.2481065 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“OPS may use virtual avatars (Washburn et al., 2016) or video recorded human actors (O’Brien, Fuxman, et al., 2019) to provide students with a realistic experience of patient interaction as well as immediate feedback allowing for adaptation over the course of practice.”
InfluentialLawrence, O. C., Wolfe, A., Rogers, M. L., Bloch‐Elkouby, S., Peterkin, D., Lok, B. C. L., Yao, H., de Siqueira, A. G., Mitelman, S. A., Foster, A. E., et al. (2025) · Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science · doi:10.1007/s41347-024-00470-2 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“…trainees’ feedback on the acceptability and perceived utility of using virtual training paradigms for assessment and diagnosis with varied clinical populations (e.g. Shah et al., 2012; Washburn et al., 2016), none of these studies included virtual patient paradigms with voice recognition software.”
InfluentialHarris, L. M., Kerr, J., Skidmore, B. D., Ghare, S. S., Reyes-Vega, A., Remenik-Zarauz, V., Samanapally, H., Anwar, R. U., Rijal, R., Hall, M. T., et al. (2025) · Journal of Social Work Education · doi:10.1080/10437797.2025.2466638 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Centring aboriginal epistemologies: Development of a 3D simulation for social work education
Cleland, A., & Masocha, S. (2020) · Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Enhancing Simulations: The Promise of Skills Practice for Achieving Competence in Child Welfare Work
Davis, M., McDonald, C., & Benson, C. L. (2025) · Studies in Clinical Social Work Transforming Practice Education and Research · doi:10.1080/28376811.2025.2569562 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Hughes, M., & Warren, A. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-75166-5_5 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Virtual patients with substance use disorders in healthcare professional education: a scoping review
Morvannou, A., Allami, Y., & Jobin, E. Y. (2024) · Canadian Medical Education Journal · doi:10.36834/cmej.78344 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“21,35,37,38,41 Overall, usability of simulations ranged from “good” to “very good” 21,35,38,41 and 90% of learners reported finding the simulations useful.”
InfluentialWayrynen, G. (2019) · John Spoor Broome Library Institutional Repository (California State University)
Lanzieri, N., Bowen, J. P., Lasala, D., Samelson, H., & McAlpin, E. C. (2020) · International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) · doi:10.23919/ilrn47897.2020.9155102
“Generally, simulation based learning has been shown to be effective for adult students because it is problem-focused, self-directed and it has relevant applicability to real settings [1].”
BackgroundVirtual Patient Simulation: Training Pre-Health Professionals in Suicide Risk Prevention
Fajardo, F. (2019) · doi:10.25148/etd.fidc007715
“One recent study by Washburn et al. (2016) examined the use of VP simulation to “enhance social workers’ mental health assessment skills as a way to curb misidentification of behavioral health issues” (p. 676).”
BackgroundOnline Training and Monitoring of Clinical Skills in Behavioral Health: A Scoping Review (Preprint)Preprint
Magill, M., Mastroleo, N. R., & Martino, S. (2020) · doi:10.2196/preprints.22116
An Experiential Helping Skills Course for Undergraduates: The Helping Relationship
Estrada, A. R., Lewis, R. J., & Williams, K. N. (2022) · Teaching of Psychology · doi:10.1177/00986283221138821
“Although technology-based training may eventually enhance resource ef fi ciency and stand-ardization (Washburn et al., 2016), challenges in using computers to train human interactions (Magill et al., 2022), validity (Cook et al., 2013), and issues of effectiveness (Huttar & Brintzenhofeszoc, 2019)…”
Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare Vol. 48, No. 3
(2021) · The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare · doi:10.15453/0191-5096.4561
Coughlan, T., Kubiak, C., Haider, S., Almond, E., & Wild, F. (2024) · International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) · doi:10.56198/u6c0wg99c
“Furthermore, the simulation can be restarted or paused at any time [29].”
Teaching Through Immersive Experience: Mixed‐Reality Simulation for Couple Therapy Training
Melendez‐Rhodes, T. (2025) · Journal of Marital and Family Therapy · doi:10.1111/jmft.70086
Artificial Intelligence in Social Work Education
Alam, N. (2026) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/979-8-3373-6911-2.ch002
Liu, H., Tuerxun, N., & Chen, J. (2026) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-9368123/v1
- Authors
- Washburn, M., Bordnick, P., & Rizzo, A. “.
- Affiliations
- University of Houston (US)
- Tulane University (US)
- University of Southern California (US)
- Corresponding author
- Washburn, Micki
- Venue
- Social Work in Health Care
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2016-08-23
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 675-693
- ISSN
- 0098-1389 (ISSN-L)
- 1541-034X
- OpenAlex
- W2509826262
- Semantic Scholar
- 15bd56f45f280514c260387d7c808ef9bde492d3
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 3.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Social Work in Health Care (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Simulation-Based Education in Healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Social Sciences › Public Administration › Social Work Education and Practice
- Keywords
- virtual patient simulation, social work students, clinical interviewing skills, diagnostic accuracy, multidisciplinary care, feasibility and acceptability, simulation-based education
- MeSH terms
- Virtual Reality, Adult, Mental Disorders, Clinical Competence, Education, Graduate, Female, Humans, Interview, Psychological, Male, Mental Health, Pilot Projects, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Work, Students, Program Evaluation, Patient Simulation, Substance-Related Disorders, Young Adult
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