Refine
Year of publication
- 2021 (1)
Document Type
- Conference Proceeding (1) (remove)
Language
- English (1)
Has Fulltext
- yes (1)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (1) (remove)
Keywords
- dignity (1) (remove)
Objective: This best-practice example shows the positive effect on the behavior of a mentally disabled client with significant behavioral problems after the custom-made change in his built environment. Background: Healthcare organizations are often faced with the difficulty of creating a built environment that has a positive effect on the mental well-being of the users. Ipse de Bruggen is a healthcare organization that offers care and support for the mentally handicapped. They look after clients who need additional individual support due to their behavioral problems and have developed new care concepts for this over the years. With regard to the built environment, however, they found in individual cases that the living environment does not suit the client. The rooms are bare and devoid of atmosphere. It seems that in many cases this has led to even more aggression and destruction. A negative spiral. The organization saw the need to change this and in 2011 commissioned Andrea Möhn Architects, formerly Möhn + Bouman Architects, to examine the built environment and the needs of individual users with major behavioral problems. Methods: The findings are based on the architects’ many years of experience with regard to the target group, a precise observation of the behavior of the user in his personal space as well as interviews with the staff from November 2011 to April 2012. Results: Based on the observations the architects created a tailor-made environment that had a very positive effect on the behavior of the user and thus also on his family, the care staff and the organization. Conclusions: The best practice example shows that for clients with severe behavioral problems a personalized and humanized approach seemed to be the right approach, rather than a flexible spatial solution. The redesigned space gave the client a sense of control, pride, dignity and a sense of well-being. Inspired by this success, the organization started the project "Physical environment, a fixed value in our care” in 2020. Within four years, twelve rooms will be redesigned and their effects on users will be scientifically researched.