Exploring the Concept of Healing Spaces

Evidence-based design (EBD) research has demonstrated the power of environmental design to support improved patient, family, and staff outcomes and to minimize or avoid harm in healthcare settings. While healthcare has primarily focused on fixing the body, there is a growing recognition that our hea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHERD Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 43 - 56
Main Authors DuBose, Jennifer, MacAllister, Lorissa, Hadi, Khatereh, Sakallaris, Bonnie
Format Book Review Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.01.2018
Subjects
Architectural Accessibility
Evidence-Based Practice
Hospital Design and Construction - methods
Humans
Interior Design and Furnishings - methods
Lighting
Noise
Patient Safety
Patient Satisfaction
Patients - psychology
Self Efficacy
Social Support
health
environment
satisfaction
physical
outcomes
patient
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Summary:Evidence-based design (EBD) research has demonstrated the power of environmental design to support improved patient, family, and staff outcomes and to minimize or avoid harm in healthcare settings. While healthcare has primarily focused on fixing the body, there is a growing recognition that our healthcare system could do more by promoting overall wellness, and this requires expanding the focus to healing. This article explores how we can extend what we know from EBD about health impacts of spatial design to the more elusive goal of healing. By breaking the concept of healing into antecedent components (emotional, psychological, social, behavioral, and functional), this review of the literature presents the existing evidence to identify how healthcare spaces can foster healing. The environmental variables found to directly affect or facilitate one or more dimension of healing were organized into six groups of variables—homelike environment, access to views and nature, light, noise control, barrier-free environment, and room layout. While there is limited scientific research confirming design solutions for creating healing spaces, the literature search revealed relationships that provide a basis for a draft definition. Healing spaces evoke a sense of cohesion of the mind, body, and spirit. They support healing intention and foster healing relationships.
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ISSN:1937-5867
2167-5112
DOI:10.1177/1937586716680567