Design of healthcare environments to improve mental health and well-being of female veterans
Abstract
Background: There are two million female veterans in the United States (U.S. Department of Labor, 2019). Veterans are often diagnosed with mental health challenges, with the most common being post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Female veterans are often not diagnosed for PTSD when compared to male veterans as they are less likely to report trauma experienced which can include sexual assault during their military service (Feczer & Bjorkland, 2009). Evidence-based design has shown that environmental attributes such as natural lighting, color, texture, patterns etc. within a space can play an important role in a) the willingness of female veterans to talk about their traumatic experiences, and b) the treatment of PTSD in female veterans. Though studies have explored health benefits of different environmental attributes of a space, none of the studies have reported specific needs and preferences of female veterans who have PTSD along with emotions they experience when they spend time in healthcare environments. Purpose: The primary goal of this pilot study was to determine if the emotions experienced (stressed, satisfied, calm, nervous etc.) by female veterans in healthcare environments was different from male veterans. The secondary goal of the study was to determine if there are differences in preferences of environmental attributes such as natural light, color, pattern, texture etc. between male and female veterans. Methodology: Four male (age: 46.3 ± 24.4yrs) and 10 female (57.0 ± 4.24 yrs) veterans participated in the study. The participants were given a survey with Likert scale questions on emotions experienced when in a healthcare environment and preferences of different environmental attributes. A Mann-Whitney test was used for the analysis. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between male and female veterans in terms of emotions experienced in healthcare environments though female veterans expressed a higher level of dissatisfaction. As for preferences of environmental attributes, texture showed the highest difference in preferences between male and female veterans (p=0.058). Implications: This study has important implications for the design of healthcare environments for female veterans.