Department of Gerontology, University of Haifa, Abba Khushi Ave. 199, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, School of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ramat-Gan 5252626, Israel.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024 Apr 30;21(5):575. doi: 10.3390/ijerph21050575.
With a growing need for long-term care facilities in general, and for specialized dementia units in particular, it is important to ensure that the architectural layouts of such facilities support the well-being of both the residents and the unit caregivers. This study aimed to investigate correlations between the support provided by the architectural layout of long-term care units for enhancing residents' well-being and for decreasing unit caregivers' burnout and increasing their resilience-as layouts may impact each party differently. The Psycho Spatial Evaluation Tool was utilized to assess the support provided by the layouts of seventeen long-term care units (ten regular nursing units and seven specialized dementia units) for the residents' physical and social well-being (five dimensions); a questionnaire was used to measure the unit caregivers' burnout and resilience. When analyzing layouts' support for residents' physical and social well-being, inconsistencies emerged regarding correlations with caregivers' burnout and resilience across the two types of long-term care units. Supporting residents' physical well-being was correlated with increased caregiver resilience in dementia units, and with increased burnout and decreased resilience in regular nursing units. Layouts supporting social well-being showed inconsistent correlations with caregivers' resilience indexes in dementia units, and with burnout and resilience indexes in regular nursing units. The findings underscore the role of the architectural layout of long-term care units in enhancing residents' well-being; the results also highlight the possible unintentional yet negative impact of the layout on the caregivers' burnout and resilience. This study emphasizes the need to identify and rectify design shortcomings as a means of enhancing residents' well-being, while increasing the unit caregivers' resilience and decreasing their burnout. These insights should be addressed when developing strategies and interventions for ensuring optimal care environments for all parties involved.
随着人们对长期护理设施的需求不断增长，尤其是对专门的痴呆症单元的需求不断增长，确保这些设施的建筑布局能够支持居民和单位护理人员的福祉就显得尤为重要。本研究旨在调查长期护理单元的建筑布局对增强居民福祉、降低单位护理人员倦怠感并提高其适应力的相关性，因为布局可能会对双方产生不同的影响。研究采用心理空间评估工具来评估十七个长期护理单元（十个常规护理单元和七个专门的痴呆症单元）的布局对居民身体和社交福祉（五个维度）的支持程度；采用问卷来衡量单位护理人员的倦怠感和适应力。在分析布局对居民身体和社交福祉的支持程度时，我们发现，两种类型的长期护理单元的护理人员倦怠感和适应力与布局之间的相关性存在不一致的情况。支持居民的身体健康与痴呆症单元中护理人员的适应力增强有关，而与常规护理单元中的倦怠感和适应力下降有关。支持社交福祉的布局与痴呆症单元中护理人员的适应力指标之间的相关性不一致，与常规护理单元中的倦怠感和适应力指标之间也存在不一致的情况。这些发现强调了长期护理单元建筑布局在增强居民福祉方面的作用；结果还突出了布局对护理人员倦怠感和适应力可能产生的无意识但负面的影响。本研究强调了需要识别和纠正设计缺陷，以增强居民的福祉，同时提高单位护理人员的适应力并降低其倦怠感。在制定确保所有相关方都能获得最佳护理环境的策略和干预措施时，应考虑到这些见解。
