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Planning and design of children's health care facilities.

Children are not small adults, but children do live in an adult-oriented world. With few exceptions, most of the environment, as designed and built, is intended to meet the needs of adults. Children adapt and have to make do. An increasing body of knowledge is telling us, however, that the sick or injured child heals best in an environment that is unique--one that responds to the child's emotional and physical needs. A health care environment that is responsive to the needs of children and their families, as well as the caregivers, will provide a more tolerable, perhaps even more pleasant experience, for the child and family and thereby enable caregivers to provide services more easily and efficiently. The new result may well be improved outcomes and health status. As planners, designers, or caregivers, we all have a responsibility to create these special environments and help each child achieve his or her highest possible level of health.

Architecture↗

[Theories and methodologies of engineering designs on sustainable agricultural land consolidation project--a case study of Xuemeiyang land consolidation project in Changtai County, Fujian Province].

The concept and characteristics of engineering designs on sustainable agricultural land consolidation project were discussed in this paper. Principles, basic methods and procedures of engineering designs on agricultural land consolidation project were put forward, which were successfully adopted for designing agricultural land consolidation in Xuemeiyang region of Changtai County, including diversity designs of sustainable land use, engineering designs of soil improvement, roads, ditches, and drains for protecting existent animal environments, and design of ecological shelter-forests in farmland. Moreover, from sustainable economic, ecological and social points, the results of these engineering designs were evaluated based on fouteen important indexes. After carrying out these engineeringdesigns, the eco-environments and agricultural production conditions were significantly improved, and the farm income was increased in planned regions.

Agriculture↗

Signs, symbols, and the psychiatric environment.

The demands on the design and subsequent built environment for psychiatric treatment are exacting. Inside and out, the facility must offer a safe, comfortable, nonthreatening, readily comprehensible set of surroundings to support the therapy taking place there. All messages sent by the environment must convey sincere respect for the patient and sensitive concern for his or her physiological and psychological well-being.

Health Facility Environment↗

The implantation of life on Mars: feasibility and motivation.

Environmental conditions on Mars are extremely hostile, and would be destructive to any organisms which might arrive there unprotected to-day. However, it is a biocompatible planet. Its unalterable astrophysical parameters would allow the maintenance of a much thicker, warmer carbon dioxide atmosphere than that which currently exists. Though very cold (averaging about -60 degrees C), highly oxidizing and desiccated, Mars may possess substantial quantities of the materials needed to support life--in particular, water and carbon dioxide. A general scenario for implanting life on Mars would include three main phases: (1) robotic and human exploration to determine whether sufficiently large and accessible volatile inventories are available; (2) planetary engineering designed to warm the planet, release liquid water and produce a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere; and (3) if no indigenous Martian organisms emerge as liquid water becomes available, a program of biological engineering designed to construct and implant pioneering microbial communities able to proliferate in the newly clement, though still anaerobic, Martian environment. The process of establishing an ecosystem, or biosphere, on a lifeless planet is best termed 'ecopoiesis.' This new word, derived from Greek, means 'the making of an abode for life.' It is by no means clear whether ecopoiesis on Mars is scientifically possible or technologically achievable. Thus we urge that it be one of the objectives of space research during the next century to assess the feasibility of ecopoiesis on Mars.

Atmosphere↗

JIDE: a new software for computer-aided design of hip prosthesis.

This work is aimed at developing an innovative simulation environment supporting and improving the design of standard joint implants (JPD integrated design environment (JIDE)). The conceptual workflow starts from the design of a new implant, by using conventional CAD programmes and completes with the generation of a report that summarises the goodness for a new implant against a database of human bone anatomies. For each dataset in the database, the JPD application calculates a set of quantitative indicators that will support the designer in the evaluation of its design on a statistical basis. The resulting system is thus directed to prostheses manufacturers and addresses a market segment that appears to have a steady growth in the future.

Computer Simulation↗

The private adolescent: privacy needs of adolescents in hospitals.

This report is based on an interpretative study that explored the meaning of space to adolescents in the hospital environment. Through designing their own adolescent ward and discussing their designs in an interview, participants articulated their spatial needs in the ward environment. This paper addresses the private space issues of the adolescent patient in the ward environment. Issues that are discussed include the use of the telephone, the bathroom, and the bedroom, and additional facilities needed to enhance privacy in the ward.

Adolescent↗

Multisensory environments for leisure: promoting well-being in nursing home residents with dementia.

Multisensory environments such as Snoezelen rooms are becoming increasingly popular in health care facilities for older individuals. There is limited reliable evidence of the benefits of such innovations, and the effect they have on residents, caregivers, and visitors in these facilities. This two-stage project examined how effective two types of multisensory environments were in improving the well-being of older individuals with dementia. The two multisensory environments were a Snoezelen room and a landscaped garden. These environments were compared to the experience of the normal living environment. The observed response of 24 residents with dementia in a nursing home was measured during time spent in the Snoezelen room, in the garden, and in the living room. In the second part of the project, face-to-face interviews were conducted with six caregivers and six visitors to obtain their responses to the multisensory environments. These interviews identified the components of the environments most used and enjoyed by residents and the ways in which they could be improved to maximize well-being.

Affect↗

Creating a work environment that supports self-care.

The article challenges health care institutions to take corporate responsibility in designing an environment that supports health and healing among its own employees. A program called WorkHealth, a comprehensive delivery system encompassing four integrated continuums directed toward individual employees, work teams, the organization as a whole, and the organization's relationship with the community, is described. Particular attention is focused on the health, wellness, and productivity of individuals and teams with recommendations for leaders in creating the environment for this to occur.

Burnout, Professional↗

[The patient care experience in radiotherapy: perspectives for better patient support].

This paper reports the patient care experience during the course of the radiotherapy. Plights are multiple. Patients are confronted with a complex and unknown distressing space, an irrelavant information, a banalization of side effects, an isolation with a frequent inadequate support of their family or the caregivers team, with the fear of a definitive abandonment at the end of the treatment without comforting follow-up. It is imperative to state a real policy in order to improve the patient support. Sensibilization and training of the caregivers, in spite of a frequent overbooking technical work, is required in a pluridisciplinary approach to provide a relevant reception with the collaboration of psychologists, social workers and self care groups and associations. The personal implication of the physicians and technologists is also essential. The simple smile is the intangible proof of the reliable emotional support.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Changing the environment to promote health-enhancing physical activity.

Supportive environments have been used to change and influence health behaviours like smoking. While psychological and ecological theories and models demonstrate the possible influences of the environment on health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA), little is known about the effectiveness of the environmental interventions. This paper presents the results of a systematic review of studies that used environmental interventions to increase health-enhancing physical activity. Two groups of studies were found, studies that changed the physical environment by creating new HEPA facilities, policies and supporting mechanisms, and studies that used the elements of the environment as an active or sedentary 'point of choice', via educational materials to promote stair use. Environmental change studies showed a small increase on HEPA behaviour, but the relative impact of environment changes was not evaluated. A number of before and after studies have observed a weak effect of a simple environmental change to stimulate stair climbing while travelling or shopping. Current national policy has embraced the environment as an option for promoting health-enhancing physical activity, especially active travel, in spite of the lack of effectiveness data. It is recommended that existing or planned public health environment and HEPA initiatives should use appropriate evaluation methods to assess their efficacy and effectiveness. Further developmental research into the nature of the relationship of the environment to particular HEPA behaviours is strongly recommended before developing new environmental interventions.

Environment Design↗

The role of environment in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).

PURPOSE: This paper provides a framework for understanding the impact of environmental factors on functioning when a person has a health condition. This understanding provides the rationale for including environmental factors in WHO's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). METHOD AND RESULTS: This conceptual paper uses a review format to provide, firstly, an historical perspective on the integration of environmental factors into the understanding of disability and the ICF; secondly, a description of the overall ICF and, specifically, the environmental factors section; and thirdly, an overview of the interaction of a person with a health condition and the environment in which they live, and the outcome of disability. CONCLUSIONS: The ICF is a classification that allows a comprehensive and detailed description of a person's experience of disability, including the environmental barriers and facilitators that have an impact on a person's functioning. The recognition of the central role played by environmental factors has changed the locus of the problem and, hence, focus of intervention, from the individual to the environment in which the individual lives. Disability is no longer understood as a feature of the individual, but rather as the outcome of an interaction of the person with a health condition and the environmental factors.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Human factors in spacecraft design.

This paper describes some of the salient implications of evolving mission parameters for spacecraft design. Among the requirements for future spacecraft are new, higher standards of living, increased support of human productivity, and greater accommodation of physical and cultural variability. Design issues include volumetric allowances, architecture and layouts, closed life support systems, health maintenance systems, recreational facilities, automation, privacy, and decor. An understanding of behavioral responses to design elements is a precondition for critical design decisions. Human factors research results must be taken into account early in the course of the design process.

Environment Design↗

Understanding challenging behaviour in patients with dementia.

The fifth and final article in the series on patients with dementia in acute care examines challenging behaviour. Hospital admission, combined with unfamiliar surroundings and memory problems, can be frightening and disorientating for those with dementia. This can lead to behaviour which is perceived as 'disruptive' or 'difficult'. Aspects of the hospital environment or care practice can contribute to problems that may be misinterpreted and lead to challenging behaviour. Staff should seek to understand the cause of challenging behaviour, assess the possible causes and use strategies to reinforce familiarity and minimise distress for these patients.

Acute Disease↗