Strategies related to the design of the built environment should be considered within the context of the culture of the organization and the resident population. This study of the physical environment of residential health, care, and support facilities addresses the range of settings and population, where other studies have been lacking. The literature review strongly suggests that the built environment is an important component of care provided in residential care settings.
This article provides a literature review of the most recent (2015) empirical evidence addressing the impact of the physical environment of residential health, care, and support facilities (RHCSF) on staff and residents.
Guidelines of the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) (2010) were followed. These steps included establishing a review team and developing review protocol. Next, background was developed, along with review questions, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and defining the study population.
The initial article search produced 1216 studies; after applying the criteria, 142 studies remained. Seventy-nine studies were added, for a total of 221 studies. Following the final screen, 66 studies remained.
The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to test the quality, and articles were given a quality score.
Data was extracted from the final 66 studies, including setting, mean age, sample size, study design, design category, physical environmental feature studied, outcome variable, and quality assessment.
Visual models were created to show the link between environmental design strategies, environmental conditions, and outcomes in residential settings.
Though there are mixed findings, the literature review strongly suggests that the built environment is an important component of the care provided in residential care settings.
Limitations included quality variance in the study sample, changing sample population over time, impact of physical environment which is difficult to unravel in multi-factorial studies.