Articles
Participatory design to develop therapeutic gardens in hospital grounds
Article number
1429_57
Pages
471 – 478
Language
English
Abstract
Therapeutic gardens in hospitals and clinics can offer many benefits.
The surrounding grounds of many hospitals and clinics in Greece, have not been intentionally designed as therapeutic gardens.
This paper presents the design proposal for the creation of two therapeutic gardens in the surrounding grounds of a general hospital in Athens, Greece, based on a site analysis of the studied area as well as the results of a questionnaire survey addressed separately to the hospital’s patients and medical-nursing staff.
The questionnaire survey took place during late summer-early autumn outdoors in the surrounding grounds of the studied hospital.
Voluntarily, patients responded to 28 questions and the medical-nursing staff to 24 questions.
Primarily closed-ended questions were used to examine the participants’ perceptions of the surrounding grounds of the studied hospital grounds.
A total of 110 patients and 60 medical-nursing staff participated in the survey.
The results of the survey showed that the majority of interviewed patients and medical-nursing staff visit the hospital grounds in the morning and in the afternoon.
The majority of the medical-nursing staff (92.0%) agree for patients to participate in mild activities such as walking, gardening and mild physical exercise in the hospital’s surrounding grounds while, over half of the patients (59.8%) expressed the desire to care for plants during their hospitalization.
Also, the majority of the patients expressed that they would like to have more color (60.0%) and a water feature (40.0%) in the hospital’s surrounding grounds.
Both patients and medical staff preferred flowering and aromatic plants over plants for shade or fruit plants.
The results of the questionnaire were considered in the design proposal for the creation of individual therapeutic gardens in two selected locations of the hospital’s surrounding grounds.
The surrounding grounds of many hospitals and clinics in Greece, have not been intentionally designed as therapeutic gardens.
This paper presents the design proposal for the creation of two therapeutic gardens in the surrounding grounds of a general hospital in Athens, Greece, based on a site analysis of the studied area as well as the results of a questionnaire survey addressed separately to the hospital’s patients and medical-nursing staff.
The questionnaire survey took place during late summer-early autumn outdoors in the surrounding grounds of the studied hospital.
Voluntarily, patients responded to 28 questions and the medical-nursing staff to 24 questions.
Primarily closed-ended questions were used to examine the participants’ perceptions of the surrounding grounds of the studied hospital grounds.
A total of 110 patients and 60 medical-nursing staff participated in the survey.
The results of the survey showed that the majority of interviewed patients and medical-nursing staff visit the hospital grounds in the morning and in the afternoon.
The majority of the medical-nursing staff (92.0%) agree for patients to participate in mild activities such as walking, gardening and mild physical exercise in the hospital’s surrounding grounds while, over half of the patients (59.8%) expressed the desire to care for plants during their hospitalization.
Also, the majority of the patients expressed that they would like to have more color (60.0%) and a water feature (40.0%) in the hospital’s surrounding grounds.
Both patients and medical staff preferred flowering and aromatic plants over plants for shade or fruit plants.
The results of the questionnaire were considered in the design proposal for the creation of individual therapeutic gardens in two selected locations of the hospital’s surrounding grounds.
Authors
A.T. Paraskevopoulou, E. Kamperi
Keywords
landscape design, human perceptions, healing gardens, therapeutic hospital garden, questionnaire survey
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