Multisensory stress reduction: a neuro-architecture study of paediatric waiting rooms

ABSTRACT

The implementation of environmental satisfaction sources in the design of a health centre is a means to achieve stress reduction. The present work analyses the effect that these sources have on the stress reduction of patients’ companions in a paediatric service. A two-phase study was carried out. During the first phase, 120 participants assessed 20 waiting rooms in situ in order to select the environmental sources with the greatest effect. During the second phase, the stress levels of 26 participants were measured in four simulated waiting rooms that combined the selected sources from the first phase. A multisensory simulation was carried out through a virtual reality experiment with visual, auditory and olfactory elements, and stress levels were measured at the psychological and neurophysiological levels. Results suggest that a combination of environmental satisfaction sources creates an important synergistic effect at the psychological and neurophysiological levels and underlines the importance of auditory and olfactory stimuli. Conclusions may be of interest to designers and managers of healthcare facilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Waiting room design
• healthcare
• stress reduction
• multisensory stimulation
• neuro-architecture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Juan Luis Higuera-Trujillo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1870-2388

Carmen Llinares Millán http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2270-807X

Antoni Montañana i Aviñó http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2749-6248

Juan-Carlos Rojas http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7718-4555

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain [grant number TIN2013-45736-R].