Preparing children for MRI scan by
using gamified 360° application
(Lapsen valmistaminen MRI tutkimuksiin
pelillisen 360°- ohjaussovelluksen avulla)
Sanna Varteva
(M.Ns), Graduated student from the Clinical
Expertise in Digital Health Care and Social
services Master´s Degree, School of rehabilitation
and examination, Helsinki Metropolia University
of Applied Sciences
Mari Virtanen
Principal Lecturer (Ph.D),
School of rehabilitation and examination,
Helsinki Metropolia UAS
Year of completion/publication: 2020
University and department: Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, School of rehabilitation
and examination, Helsinki, Finland
Contact information of contact person: Mari Virtanen, Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu, Myllypurontie 1,
00079 Metropolia, +358406705156, mari.virtanen@metropolia.fi
PURPOSE AND NATURE
OF THE STUDY:
It has been indicated that children ex-perience
variety of unpleasant feelings
concerning clinical examinations includ-ing
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
scans. The scanning situation may be
new and exciting for many children. It
has been shown that the feelings asso-ciated
could be alleviated with careful
counselling beforehand. Proper coun-selling
has also shown positive impacts
on anxiety reduction and distress during
the examinations, also affecting posi-tively
on successful scans.
In patient counselling context the
development of digital materials, use
of gamification and mobile applications
has continuously increased worldwide,
however it has not reached routine role
in patient education. The potential of
digital applications especially among
children has seen in other fields of ed-ucation.
Based on these facts the clear
need to evaluate digital counselling
methods have stated.
The aim of this thesis study was to
design and develop digital application
for patient counselling use for MRI scans
and to evaluate the usability, user expe-rience
and the utility of the application
as a part of high-quality patient counsel-ling.
The gamified application was based
on spherical 360° images and on rele-vant
counselling material in digital for-mat
used by any smart device connect-ed
on the internet. The study answered
in the questions as 1) can digital appli-cation
be used as a partial counselling
method before MRI scans and 2) could
it reduce anxiety and other unpleasant
feelings in children based on their par-ents
experiences.
Methods:
This pilot study followed the construc-tivist
development model including
initial, planning, implementation and
finishing phases. In the initial and plan-ning
phase the digital application was
Kliininen Radiografiatiede 2021 23
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