Patient well-being, adaptation of and to indoor conditions, and hospital room design: two mixed methods case studies

Research indicates that adaptation influences how people experience indoor conditions (ICs), and that the built environment influences both adaptation, via perceived control, and well-being. Their interlinkage is, however, not well understood. Therefore, we investigated how the design of hospital rooms can contribute to patients' well-being by supporting their adaptation of and to ICs via perceived control. Two mixed methods case studies were conducted at hospital wards in Belgium, each concurrently collecting qualitative and quantitative data. These included interviews with 16 (case 1) and 19 (case 2) patients, self-documentation by 8 patients (case 1), sensor measurements of indoor environmental quality indicators (e.g. sound, light, and temperature levels) (cases 1 and 2) and questionnaires among 84 (case 1) and 238 (case 2) patients. Focusing on the built environment's role in adaptation allows characterizing known adaptation strategies in more detail. When perceiving control over adaptable building characteristics, patients can adapt ICs or adapt to ICs by choice. When not perceiving such control, they may still adapt sensations or their position. Without any perceived control, adapting to ICs is imposed. The built environment can support patients' adaptation by supporting their autonomy and competences. In this way it can foster both patients' eudaimonic as well as their hedonic well-being.