Worldwide, 50 million people live with dementia. There is a failure to identify best practices for teaching students to identify the common features of dementia and to determine effective ways to prevent behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental study was to examine whether exposure to a Virtual Reality Dementia Simulation (VRDS) created change among healthcare students in treating persons with dementia regarding: (a) empathy, (b) confidence in clinical abilities, (c) attitudes to caring, and (d) engagement. The conceptual framework for this study was the capability, opportunity, motivation, and behavior model of behavior change from the behavior change wheel (BCW), which is an evidence-based framework for creating behavior change. There were two repeated measures, the pretest and the posttest. Sixty-eight participants were recruited for the study using nonprobability sampling from the population of healthcare students at colleges and universities within the province of Ontario. Three questionnaires were distributed to participants: a demographic questionnaire, the interpersonal reactivity index (IRI), and the general practitioners attitude and confidence scale for dementia (GPACS-D). The data showed that for all dependent variables, including empathy, confidence in care, attitudes to care, and engagement, there was no statistically significant difference over time with the VRDS intervention. The primary recommendation for practice is to leverage the VRDS with healthcare students, as virtual reality (VR) is uniquely positioned to teach empathy skills. The research has shown that a single exposure to a VRDS intervention may not be sufficient to create positive outcomes. It would be beneficial to repeat the use of the VRDS activity rather than implementing it as a one-time activity as was done in the current study. Researchers may also want to focus on combining a VRDS activity with a fulsome curriculum, including student placements, focusing on persons with dementia. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]