Child-centered Communication and Anesthesia Use for MRI

The Influence of Child-centered Communication on Children's Anxiety and Use of Anesthesia for MRI

The goal of this project is to study the influence of child-centered communication on children's anxiety, satisfaction and the use of anesthesia for MRI

This study seeks to inspect the influence of a child-centered communication (CCC) on anesthesia use in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams among four- to 10-year-old children. Children's levels of anxiety and satisfaction with the interaction also are assessed. Children are divided into three groups by order of arrival. Group 1 receives routine information about the MRI and simulates it with an MRI toy (EG1). Group 2 simulates the exam with the toy and receives the CCC. These two groups are compared with a third group of children who had received only the routine information about the exam and who served as a comparison group (CG).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Ages between four and 10 years old
• Having a medical request for the MRI in the hospital
• The MRI performed for the first time

Exclusion Criteria:

• Presenting cognitive, psychiatric or neurological conditions that prevented the understanding of communication
• Having any intra-body devices that impeded performance of the MRI exam