Landscape architects design healing gardens at healthcare facilities to support patients, visitors, caregivers, and staff. Many acknowledge that medical staff regularly visit healing gardens to escape work-related stress (Marcus and Sachs, 2014). Rarely, however, are healing gardens on medical campuses designed specifically to support physicians' well-being. There is a void in healing garden design theory. Reports on the prevalence of physician burnout, warn of a widespread crisis and dismal reality within the medical community (T. D. Shanafelt et al., 2015). Researchers pronounce an urgent need for evidence-based interventions, which address individual contributing factors to burnout (Christina Maslach, Jackson, and Leiter, 1986). By investigating the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, an evidence-based therapy, clinically proven to cultivate emotional healing, for physicians suffering burnout, this research reveals how a therapeutic garden could meld mindfulness-based practices with environmental theory; healing garden design precedents; and healthcare design typologies. Finally, mindfulness-based landscape design guidelines describe how a private, restorative, healing garden could help maintain physicians' well-being and rehabilitate physicians experiencing burnout due to emotional exhaustion within the workplace. / Master of Landscape Architecture / Healing gardens have been proven successful as a therapeutic approach to reduce emotional distress. This thesis argues that therapeutic gardens, designed for medical facilities, are not suitable for physicians struggling with burnout. This research seeks to understand how a private healing garden in a medical setting could help build and maintain physicians’ emotional resilience while rehabilitating physicians experiencing burnout. Through an in-depth review of therapeutic garden design theory and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) therapy, this research highlights the shared values between the two methods used to alleviate emotional distress. Characteristics of physicians’ emotional exhaustion, social isolation, and workplace environment are teased out and organized for design intent. Elements of mindfulness-based therapy are related to existing healing garden design programs. Relationships found enhance healing garden design theory and serve as guidelines for Mindfulness-Based Landscape Design specifically for physicians in healthcare settings. Correlations between design and wellness also address the need for landscape architects who contribute to a dynamic, active, and participatory design process.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/79971 |
| Date | 03 November 2017 |
| Creators | Philen, Melissa |
| Contributors | Landscape Architecture, Miller, Patrick A., Ishida, Aki, Bohannon, C. L. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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