Small scale and home-like long term care environments were generally associated with increased activity and positive outcomes. This study aims to test the hypothesis that plan types with different spatial configurations lead to differences in the use of spaces and the social interaction between residents that may affect well-being. The context of the study is 12-bed adult care homes with cognitively intact residents. Nine cases from four different sites, which contained 80 residents in total, were selected to be studied. Caregivers were asked to complete a survey for each resident to report about each resident?s background, competence in activities and instrumental activities of daily living, participation in social events, mood, and use of the outdoors. The corresponding distances between each resident?s bedroom and the common spaces and syntax variables (depth, local, and global integration) were also considered. Behavior maps (n=308) were collected during observations in order to have three days of observation from each studied case. The use of spaces and conversations between residents were noted as an indicator of the residents? activeness and social interaction. The hypothesis that there were at least two plan types with significantly different outcomes (survey outcomes, use, and social interaction) was accepted at p < 0.05 level. Shorter walking distances were found to be an indicator of an increase in the number of conversation groups formed only by residents. The numbers of spaces that resident needed to walk through to reach any of the common areas were also found to be a factor for social interaction. The distance was not found to be a factor for use in the studied context. The isolation of bedrooms from the surrounding spaces was found to be necessary to provide privacy for residents. The results were independent from the bedroom sharing status of residents, which was shown to be a factor of use in at larger scales. Depression levels of residents were found to be independent from the considered spatial variables.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-12052006-105055 |
| Date | 03 January 2007 |
| Creators | KEPEZ, ORCUN Mr. |
| Contributors | Dr. John O. Tector |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-12052006-105055/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dis sertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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