Category: 06 Child and MRI

By: Maria Arvidsson
Keywords: Child and MRI, Health, Children, Colorful, Confidence, Involved
Final presentation poster: Click here

Design Goal:
”to give children (5-8 years) the capacity to go through a MRI scan without anaesthetics by preparing them and helping them and their parents stay balanced in terms of enhanced relaxation, motivation and focus ”
Interaction vision: Sense of freedom: Confidence and Control.

Research Explorations:
Research goal: ”To develop an understanding for the primary user and his/her interactions with the environment, while also learning more about the MRI/an unknown context, situational stresses and how to relax”.

Methods: Observations, Interviews, Context mapping, Literature research.

Results: Children are in their way of living, exploring and acting out very different from adults. They live very much in the moment and react strongly on parent reactions. Children often react to stress with fear and their perception very much depends on their developmental phase. Going through a MRI can be hard for children. The sound and the environment can be scary and it is difficult and boring to lie still for very long.

Design implications: Focus on helping and involving children and parents together, facilitating a trusting and open relationship, giving the child control, guidance, comfort and preparation in a secure environment.

Design Explorations:
An extensive research was backed up with further expert and user interviews at hospitals. An initial prototype was build according to the insights gained. The concept was explored and developed during testing’s and evaluations. The main idea was to in one product bring together all the main values I found important for children, in order to be able to cope with a MRI without sedation.

I spend a lot of time on improving the concept, and developing the objects in each of the daily pockets; both material and shape should fit with the theme of the days. I did tactility testing’s with children to evaluate material aspects and get inspiration. I interviewed hospital personnel and parents and used their expertise to improve the prototype. I finally tested the concept with a child and got positive feedback and many thoughts confirmed. I brought all the insights and changes into a final prototype describing the concept as a finished product.

Final Design:
The MRI BOX – 7 days – 7 surprise objects – 7 exercises, a preparation tool for children going to a MRI.

About two weeks before the MRI the child will get a box home. It is his/her own MRI box providing all the information needed to prepare for the MRI. The box is a low-cost and low-tech product that helps the child prepare step-by-step to­gether with a parent. Each day during one week the child opens one pocket in the box. He/she will learn some­thing new through a small booklet and an exercise to do together with the parent. There is also a special booklet for the parents with more de­tailed instructions.

Every day is linked to a small object that will help the child remember what has been learned. The objects are collected on the memory chain. This chain is also brought to the MRI as a comfort, reminder and communication tool to the personnel.

By: Fawn Ellis
Keywords: Child and MRI, Health, Social, Control, Fantasy
Final presentation poster: Click here

Design Goal and Interaction vision:

Teen heart patients must undergo sedation during the MRI, which allows nurses to take complete control of the heart to achieve a clear image. Sedation, however, tires the body & adds family stress. The design goal is to create a holistic experience, includes family, which reduces anxiety and the need for sedation. The interaction elicits what is important to teens: control, social relatedness  & fantasy.

Research Explorations:

To develop a meaningful product, I conducted an in depth literature search to understand how children make sense of their bodies, how chronic illnesses affect children and the family emotionally and dynamically, as well as calming and relaxing techniques for anxiety; breathing proved beneficial.

To get into the minds of teens, exploratory research was conducted. For this I visited the children’s science museum and a teen magazine section to observe interactions and what interests teens.  I also followed teens on facebook to see how they communicate and what has meaning for them.  What I found; relating with other teens & moving in packs, fantasizing about future outcomes and being in control were important factors.

Lastly, I met with health and meditation experts to observe, interview and partake in both an MRI and meditation. This allowed me to get a deep understanding of the  MRI and solution-based experience.

Design Explorations:

During the idea generation phase, I role-played with peers the intended interaction. The first prototype was also tested in this manner.  It showed I needed more feedback and clear definition of user actions.

In the interim, I spoke with a respiratory therapist, and meditation student to see if it would satisfy health industry & meditation needs. The outcome was positive.

The second prototype was tested with 4 teens. Pro Breather was well received and only small changes, e.g. picking music, private family lessons, avatar definition, were needed to create a more personal connection.

Lastly, I tested the remote meditation lesson interaction via a skype phone call with 1 meditation instructor and 3 remote participants. The lesson was successful in achieving control, fantasy and social, however, to ensure future success, warm ups need to be in every lesson to open people up, visuals of warm up poses, setting up your environment and avatar interaction need to be further defined and developed.

Final Design:

Based on my research findings, I developed, Pro Breather; online guided meditation lessons for teen heart patients.

Teens can participate in live meditation lessons, where they learn to control their heartbeat and enter into a fantasy based mental state. During the lesson, they can physically engage with participants and the coach by speaking through the computer. This allows teens to connect. Teens can further bond and receive support by inviting friends & family to the lessons via Facebook or Twitter. They can also meet and chat with other teenage heart patients who share similar interests. At the end of the lesson individual and group concerns can be shared and discussed.