Abstract

Adolescents with asthma or allergies do not consider their disease when making their career choice. Therefore the aim of this project was to sensitize secondary school students for occupational diseases before they start working.Four virtual patients for secondary school students were created. They present their experiences as apprentices. Occupational diseases as well as prevention methods are discussed. Evaluation and longterm knowledge was assessed. Furthermore, a webpage ( Virtual patients are suitable for age 13-16. On a scale from 1 (very good) to 6 (insufficient) students rated the use of the virtual patients with an overall mean of 2.7 (Standard deviation: 1.15). Long-term gain in knowledge was shown.Using virtual patients in adolescents is useful to enhance knowledge about occupational risks. Whether this contributes to an informed job choice has to be shown in further studies.

Citation

Wengenroth, L., Hege, I., Förderreuther, K., Riu, E., Mandl, H., Kujath, P. & Radon, K. Promoting occupational health in secondary schools through virtual patients. Computers & Education, 55(4), 1443-1448. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved August 16, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/201387/.

Keywords

• Atopic diseases
• Occupational diseases
• problem based learning
• Professional Education
• secondary schools