There is increasing evidence that attractive environments can enhance the experiences of healthcare users. What creates attractive environments may be relative to the country where that healthcare is provided. This paper was written in the UK and was an attempt to find research that supports the use of art to create healing environments along with the role of art in encouraging civic pride. It was part of a two-year evaluation of a commissioned arts program in a UK mental health trust.
The objective of this paper is to review and report on research that focuses on the impact of art, design, and environment in healthcare settings, with an emphasis on mental healthcare.
A systematic literature review that included a review of over 600 papers of which 19 met the authors’ search criteria. The 19 articles are discussed in this paper.
The authors categorized the findings into the following topics: the impact of art intervention in healthcare settings; the impact of design and environmental conditions; and perceptions of art, design, and environment in healthcare settings. Few studies directly examined ‘the impact of art interventions in healthcare settings’ in mental health settings. The authors reviewed two papers with similar population types. In the category ‘the impact of design and environmental conditions,’ more studies were found. These studies examined the impact of environmental conditions, taking into account aesthetics as well as functional considerations. In the final category, ‘perceptions of art, design, and environment in healthcare settings,’ the remaining studies examined subjective responses to healthcare environments.
As with any systematic literature review, relevant articles may have been missed, as they did not directly address the search criteria, or may not have been available through the search engines.