Influence of Natural Images on Patients' Anxiety in the Waiting Rooms of Imaging Ward

Each year, the Medical Imaging Unit of the University Hospital of Bordeaux (CHU Bordeaux) receives 80,500 patients for CT or MRI scans in usual care. The length of waiting, the environment of the waiting room, the reasons for the examination are factors that increase the levels of anxiety during waiting and but also during early examination.

Previous studies have shown that the integration of nature (real as well as artificial) is likely to decrease the level of anxiety. Before implementing a multicentre and randomised trial, a pilot study is necessary to assess the feasibility of the procedure, to test the relevance of the tools, to identify the influence of socio-cultural and socio-demographic characteristics on anxiety's level.

For this, the present study will be conducted over the same period of the year in order to avoid seasonality biases. The study will take place over 8 weeks, during which MRI or scanner patients will be exposed either to the neutral environment (standard environment of the waiting room) or to one of the 3 environments (wall posters representing the nature ("green", "sea", "zen")).

There is no specific intervention assigned to the study participants, i.e. the patients will receive one of the four environments as part of routine medical care, and a researcher studies the effect of this environment on anxiety's level. Every week, one environment will be set up in the MRI or scanner waiting room and the study will be proposed to all eligible patients present in this room. Fifty patients are expected each week so that 100 patients per environment and equally distributed between the MRI and scanner waiting rooms are expected.

Inclusion criteria

• patient 18 yrs and older;
• patients in MRI or scanner's waiting room awaiting one of these 2 exams;
• patients not objecting to answer questionnaires;
• patient covered under social security

Exclusion criteria

• patient <18yrs old;
• patients with hearing and visual impairments;
• patients unable to answer questionnaires;
• patients awaiting for other exams than MRI or scanner;
• legally protected patient