Child-Friendly Health Literacy Strategies in Online Pediatric MRI Education Resources

Abstract

Objectives: To examine how eight major U.S. children’s hospitals incorporate child-friendly health literacy strategies on their online educational resources that explain MRI procedures to pediatric patients. Background: Bright lights, unfamiliar equipment, and new faces render hospital visits overwhelming for many children. To help pediatric patients comprehend their care, hospitals implement online resources to advance health education and engagement. Low health literacy can compromise health outcomes, emphasizing the need for resources to educate patients. Although previous research has examined health literacy broadly, few studies have scrutinized how hospitals communicate medical information to pediatric patients. This study addresses this gap by analyzing strategies in online MRI educational materials. Methods: This study conducted a qualitative content analysis of the online MRI educational webpages of eight major U.S. children’s hospitals selected from the 2025-2026 U.S. News national rankings. Three independent reviewers assessed each webpage and documented the presence or absence of four child-friendly health literacy strategies: simple language, visual aids, definitions of medical terms, and step-by-step explanations. The reviewers compared their evaluations, and the majority determination established the final score for each health literacy strategy on every webpage. Results: Eight major pediatric hospitals were evaluated by independent reviewers for child-friendly health literacy strategies within online educational materials targeted towards pediatric patients. All hospitals included simple language and step-by-step explanations (100%), seven included visual aids (87.5%), and five explained medical terminology in simple terms (62.5%). Overall, hospitals yielded a mean of 3.5 out of four health literacy strategies (87.5%). Conclusions: Major U.S. pediatric hospitals consistently implemented simple language, visual aids, and step-by-step explanations when explaining MRI procedures, while definitions of medical terminology appeared less frequently. Future research should examine additional procedures and healthcare institutions to determine whether similar patterns extend a broader range of online educational resources.