Chalmers Conferences, ARCH12

Environmental qualities in supported housing facilities for people with severe mental illness: an investigation of separate levels of the environment
E. Marcheschi, M. Johansson, D. Brunt, T. Laike

Last modified: 2014-09-11

Abstract


It is widely acknowledged in the field of environmental psychology that the physical environment of healthcare facilities influences users’ well-being. There is, however, a lack of knowledge regarding its impact on people with severe mental illness (SMI) (Kloss and Shah, 2009). The present study is part of a larger research project on supported housing facilities (SHF) for people with SMI. Previous results from this project suggested that the overall physical environmental quality of SHF supports users’ needs for; visual pleasantness, social support, perceived control and restoration possibilities (Marcheschi, Johansson, Brunt & Laike, 2012, submitted). The aim of this study is to further investigate the supportive characteristics of three specific inter-connected functional units of SHF; private room/apartment, common indoor and outdoor environment (multi-place approach, Wright & Kloos, 2007). These latter have been distinguished on the basis of their physical environmental aspects in two groups; ‘high’ and ‘low’ quality. Their supportive characteristics have been assessed by people with SMI (residents, N = 72), staff (mental health nurses N = 117), a user group panel (N = 3) and experts (Environmental Psychologists N = 5) with regard to the perceived qualities of; indirect environmental effects, visual pleasantness and homelikeness. The results from separate units of environmental analyses reported by the staff and the experts showed that SHF with higher levels of physical environmental qualities for the outdoor and common indoor environments were perceived as more pleasant, with a higher degree of social status and unity. Greater degree of homelikeness was perceived by the experts in private room/apartment units with higher levels of physical environmental qualities. Moreover the residents perceived the outdoor environment as having a greater degree of physical environmental qualities such as being more supportive for their needs of; social support, perceived control and restoration. Implications of the findings for the target group of people with SMI and for future planning of SHF are discussed.

Keywords


Supported housing facilities; Mental illness; Multi-place approach; Multi-dimensional approach; Environmental audit tool

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