Health benefits from wood

interiors in hospitals

Forest Products Society 65th International Convention

Anders Q. Nyrud

Norsk Treteknisk Institutt, www.treteknisk.no

Anders Q. Nyrud

Norwegian Institute of Wood Technolohy

Tina Bringslimark

Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Introduction

Wood is:

• A natural building material

• Used in many cultures

SpainUK

Australia

GermanyChileUSA

NorwayAustria

CanadaSwedenFinland

Research project:

Beneficial effects ofinterior wood use

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

India

ChinaSouth Africa

Russia

BrazilMalaysia

Japan

ItalyFrance

The Nederlands

Spain

cubic metrers/capita

Apparent consumption of sawn woodand wood based panels, 2005

Raulandstua ca 1300 Systemhus 2010Systemhus 2010

Background

Psychological Effects of Wood Used in the Indoor Settings

• Beneficial psychological effects

How does nature and nature

elements affect us?

Nature

• Wilderness, natural landscapes, parks, gardens

• Elements of nature in built settings, window built settings, window views to nature

Beneficial effect

• Stress-reduction

• More positive feelings

• Faster mental recovery

• Decline in subjective feelings of pain

Preferences: What we like

may be good for us

• Preference studies represent an early empirical approach to the study of the human-nature relationship.

• Many of these studies assumed that what people like in environments reflect on people like in environments reflect on conditions important for health and well-being.

• In general people prefer natural settings over urban settings, and settings with some elements of nature are preferred over settings without nature elements.

Roger S. Ulrich, 1984

Three studies

Focus groups

• How do people view building materials and perceive indoor environments?

Web-surveyWeb-survey

• Preferences for wood in patient rooms

Material use in hospitals

• How elements of nature affect patients

Focus Groups

Topic: Building materials and the experience ofindoor environment

• Focus group analysis (structured discussionwithin a group of people)within a group of people)

• Commonly used in sociology and marketing

• Testing of concepts, experiences and attitudes

• Conducted in cooperation with StatisticsNorway

Results

• Variation and contrasts in material perceived as positive

• Material combinations should ensure variety (complexity), and constitute a whole

• Desire to personalize the indoor environment• Desire to personalize the indoor environment

• Durability, hygeiene

• Non-Scandinavians were overwhelmed by the use of wood: Different opinions on where wood can be used

Web-survey

• 10 data-manipulated pictures of a patient room with different degrees of wood on a continuum from no wood to all wood.

• The pictures where shown in a random fashion

Measures

• 12 adjectives describing the room: Pleasant, Nice, Boring, Pure Style, Airy, Masculine, Expensive, Modern, Ordinary, Natural, Calming and Secure.

• Three preference questions:• Three preference questions:

• ”I like the interior in this patient room”

• ”The interior is well suited for a patient room”

• ”I would like to work in this room”

Preferences for different degrees of wood in

patient rooms

Rated as most

• Pleasant

• Nice

• Natural

•

13

• Calming

• Secure

Rated as least

• Boring

The most preferred room

M=4.16 , SD=1.85

Preferences for different degrees of wood in

patient rooms

Rated as most:

• Boring

• Ordinary

14

Rated as least

• Expensive

The second least preferred room

M=3.20*, SD=1.93

*Significant P < .001

Preferences for different degrees of wood in

patient rooms

Rated as most:

• Masculine

• Expensive

Rated as least:

15

• Pleasant

• Nice

• Modern

• Ordinary

• Natural

• Calming

• Secure The least preferred room

M=2.67*, SD=1.81

*Significant P < .001

Results

• Hospital employees prefer patient rooms with an intermediate level of wood

• The traditional patient room with no inclusion of wood was the second least preferredpreferred

• The patient room with wood on all the walls, floor, ceiling and furniture was the least preferred room

• Building materials can be used to design a hospital room with an intermediate level of complexity

Nature elements in hospitals

• Study conducted in a Norwegian hospital

• Participants: orthopaedic patients (N=197)

• Outcome measures

• length of hospitalization• length of hospitalization

• use of painkillers

• blood pressure

• subjective feelings of pain and stress

• emotions before and after operation

• subjective evaluation of room

Three room interiors

1. Painting/print

2. Nature

3. Wood

+ window+ window

Results

No significant differencesbetween the rooms

Results

What does the results imply?

• Wood vs. nature vs. art vs. vindow view

The external generalizability: The external generalizability:

• Does nature or elements of nature have health benefits for all people, at all times, in all settings?

The construct validity:

• How do we measure nature or nature exposure?

Conclusions

Focus groups

• Variation/contrasts in materials is important

• Materials should fit the environment/context

Web survey Web survey

• Preference for intermediate use of wood

Patient rooms

• No significant differences for the different rooms (or window views) on the outcome measures