Mental health hospital inhabitants’ experiences of social spaces v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mental health hospital inhabitants’ experiences of social spaces in traditional and contemporary settings.
IRAS ID
324046
Contact name
Donna M Ciarlo
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
London South Bank University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 30 days
Research summary
This interdisciplinary research will be undertaken in acute mental health wards of a mental health hospital with ward staff and inpatients. The principal research question is to explore how patients and staff experience and make sense of the social spaces of traditional and contemporary settings. Traditional settings here are defined as dormitory style wards, little outdoor space and require modernisation. Contemporary settings are purpose built, evidence based, and recovery led designed environments.
Whilst designers and clinical practice are making headway to incorporate person-centred approaches into ward design, there is often insufficient depth in the psychological aspects of the social environments and how individuals make sense of inhabiting them. This research aims to develop upon previous research by advancing our understanding of the meaning making practices of inhabitants in the social environments of traditional and contemporary mental health hospital environments. The areas that relate to making sense of such environments are life histories, memories, social interactions, design and features, affectivity, decision making and ward procedures.
The research will consist of two studies undertaken across five male and female acute inpatient wards. The same participants will take part in both studies to later develop individual case studies of experiences in both settings through thorough qualitative and quantitative analysis. During the first study, each participant will take photographs of social environments within the ward which will be used to provide context and discussion points of a one to one semi structured interview. During the second study, each participant will explore three designed contemporary spaces not yet built through a virtual reality head mounted device with integrated eye-tracking. During this time, participants will talk about the places they explore followed by a one to one semi structured interview looking at the features that appeared to capture their attention outlined in eye-tracking heat maps.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NW/0162
Date of REC Opinion
10 Aug 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion