Children's distress during magnetic resonance imaging procedures

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Psychology
• Medical Imaging
• Child Oncology

Background:

• Magnetic resonance imaging procedures (MRIPs) are essential diagnostic tools for pediatric oncology patients.
• Anxiety and distress are common in children undergoing medical procedures.
• Understanding the patient and parent experience of MRIPs is crucial for improving care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the epidemiology of anxiety and distress in pediatric oncology patients undergoing MRIPs.
• To compare children's self-reported distress with parents' ratings of their child's distress.
• To identify specific components of MRIPs that contribute most to patient distress.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children to assess anxiety.
• Collected subjective distress ratings from 55 pediatric oncology patients and their parents.
• Analyzed data to determine the prevalence of distress and agreement between child and parent reports.

Main Results:

• Approximately 30% of pediatric oncology patients and their parents reported significant distress related to MRIPs.
• Parents consistently rated their child's distress higher than children's self-ratings, with poor agreement.
• Intravenous line insertion was identified as the most aversive component by both children (38%) and parents (55%).

Conclusions:

• MRIPs can cause significant anxiety and distress in pediatric oncology patients.
• Discrepancies between child and parent distress ratings highlight the need for careful assessment.
• Cognitive-behavioral interventions may be beneficial for mitigating distress during noninvasive procedures like IV insertion.