Biblioteca

Desde la cultura egipcia en 1500AC se cree que los espacios exteriores ajardinados pueden ser espiritualmente y emocionalmente curativos, y muchos aspectos del efecto de la naturaleza en la salud siguen estando bajo estudios. ¿Cómo dudar del poder curativo del verdor, de la luz del sol y del aire fresco?
Pero hoy día, en las instituciones como hospitales y residencias, el aire acondicionado ha sustituido la ventilación natural, los balcones y terrazas han desaparecido, y la naturaleza ha sucumbido a los aparcamientos. Haciendo con que estos ambientes sean estresantes para los pacientes, sus visitas y el personal.

Healing gardens have come of age. Due in part to a growing body of evidence on the health benefits to patients, staff, and visitors, they are appearing in hospitals, senior facilities, cancer facilities, and memory care units nationwide. They are featured in architecture trade magazines, in marketing literature, and even in the popular press. That is the good news. So what is the bad news?

Dismissed as pripheral to medical treatment for much of the 20th century, gardens are back in style; now featured in the design of most new hospitals, according to the American Society if Landscape Architects.

Research by Dr. Nancy Wells, an environmental psychologist in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell University demonstrates how natural and built environments affect people’s mental and physical well-being throughout their lives.

A “healing garden” is a garden or landscape designed for a specific population, place, and intended positive health outcome. The garden’s design (physical aspects) and programming (activities that take place there) are informed by research. The majority of healing gardens, also referred to as “restorative gardens” and “healthcare gardens” are in healthcare facilities including general acute care hospitals, outpatient clinics, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, mental and behavioral health facilities, hospices, and specialty facilities such as rehabilitation, pediatric, and cancer hospitals and clinics.

Objective: The main aim of this research was to identify the impact of design characteristics (DCs) of a patient room on self-reported patient well-being. Background: This knowledge enables the construction of healing environments focusing on DCs that maximize well-being. Six themes were identified in literature that create healing environments: spatial comfort, safety and security, autonomy, sensory comfort, privacy, and social comfort. We wondered what themes and associated DCs should be prioritized if needed to maximize well-being.

How might contact with nature promote human health? Promising mechanisms and posible central pathway

Contact with nature has been tied to health in a plenitude of studies. Time spent in and around tree-lined streets, gardens, parks, and forested and agricultural lands is consistently linked to objective, long-term health outcomes. The less green a person’s surroundings, the higher their risk of morbidity and mortality – even when controlling for socioeconomic status and other possible confounding variables.

Designing With Empathy: Humanizing Narratives for Inspired Healthcare Experiences

Designers can and should play a critical role in shaping a holistic healthcare experience by creating empathetic design solutions that foster a culture of care for patients, families, and staff. Using narrative inquiry as a design tool, this case study shares strategies for promoting empathy. Background: Designing for patient-centered care infuses empathy into the creative process. Narrative inquiry offers a methodology to think about and create empathetic design that enhances awareness, responsiveness, and accountability.

Neighborhood greenspace and health in a large urban center

Studies have shown that natural environments can enhance health and here we build upon that work by examining the associations between comprehensive greenspace metrics and health. We focused on a large urban population center (Toronto, Canada) and related the two domains by combining high-resolution satellite imagery and individual tree data from Toronto with questionnaire-based self-reports of general health perception, cardio-metabolic conditions and mental illnesses from the Ontario Health Study.

Omid Kardan1, Peter Gozdyra2, Bratislav Misic3, Faisal Moola4, Lyle J. Palmer5, Tomáš Paus6 & Marc G. Berman1,7