Anxiety and coping of child psychiatric patients in magnetic resonance imaging

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the anxiety level of a child psychiatric population that underwent MRI, and to reveal, whether there are some conditions which may decrease the anxiety in these children. Method: During the MRI-assessment of a population of 16 children with psychiatric referrals (age 7.25 to 13.25 years; 13 hyperkinetic) three children refused to cooperate with the MRI because of claustrophobic anxiety before the procedure. Ten patients were psychologically tested with the STAIC-anxiety-inventory (Spielberger, 1973) before and after the scan and with a retrospective questionaire about the conditions during and around the MRI assessment. Results: Before the MRI the anxiety score of these children was high. The score increased directly before the MRI. After the scan the children were obviously relieved. The psychologically tested children did not report any claustrophobic anxiety during the MRI. As a new condition a videofilm could be seen during the scan, that seemed to help the children. Conclusions: After the results of this preliminary study further studies about the anxiety of children in the MRI environment have to be carried out. The influence of other conditions like the videofilm have to be investigated randomly, because it may reduce the need for sedative effects and anaesthesia.