TITLE “Color choice in Health Care Design & Its effect on

Health and Psychology”

Project done by: Jarupala Sridhar

Guide: Dr. Utpal Barua Associate Professor

Department of Design

Aims & Objectives:• 1. What is empirically known about human response to color and how, if at all, color influences

human perception or behavior in a specific setting?

• 2. Which color design guidelines for healthcare environments, if any, have been supported by scientific research findings?

• 3. Does color have any effect on human health and psychology?

Methodology: LiteratureResearch

ProblemStatement

Ethnographic study

Observations & Analysis

Detailed Report

Final Submission

Observations / Results:

1) What is empirically known about human response to color and how, if at all, color influences human perception or behavior in a specific setting?• The simple answer is: we know very few about human response to color because of

our physiological and psychological profiles and also by cultures, places and activities.

2) Which color design guidelines for healthcare environments, if any, have been supported by scientific research findings?The answer is: hardly any.• Clearly, there are no reliable explanatory theories in this field. The answers may

disappoint many, particularly practitioners in the healthcare design community because of the expectations to identify theories, which could have had “supportable design implications for the use of color in healthcare design”.color in

Color In Healthcare Environments - A ResearchReportPrincipal Researchers: Ruth Brent Tofle, Ph.D. Benyamin Schwarz, Ph.D

• Analogous theories in color studies could, perhaps, predict how color might influence people in healthcare settings. But this class of theories is almost nonexistent in this field.

• Much of the knowledge about the implications of color in healthcare environments is based on highly biased observations, and pseudo-scientific assertions.

3) Does color have any effect on human health and psychology?

• Answer is yes color do have influence on human health and psychology.

Color In Healthcare Environments - A ResearchReportPrincipal Researchers: Ruth Brent Tofle, Ph.D. Benyamin Schwarz, Ph.D

Properties of color and Human response to it:

• Colors Possess arousing or calming properties

• Colors Have Advancing or Receding Properties

• Colors Affect the Sense of Spaciousness

• Colors Affect the Psychophysical Judgment of Time Passage

• Colors Affect Thermal Comfort

Functional Color and Design in Healthcare Environments Sponsored by Glidden Professional

Human Response to color

Creating a Healing Environment in the ICU. Chapter 3 article by Renee Rubert L. Dianne Long Melissa L. Hutchinson

• Some methods of color healing for high blood pressure, low blood pressure, allergies, depression, cancer, and other ailments to restore proper balance:

(1) Color intake through foods

(2) Irradiation with the inherent color

(3) Color intake through drinking (color irradiated water)

(4) Bathing in colored water

(5) Sunbathing in color

(6) Irradiation with color (specific parts of the body)

(7) Visualizing color (breathing exercises coupled with the visualization of color in sequence of the rainbow colors)

(8) Breathing color (a visualized color is inhaled and exhaled)

(9) Color meditation

Color & Healing

Color In Healthcare Environments - A ResearchReportPrincipal Researchers: Ruth Brent Tofle, Ph.D. Benyamin Schwarz, Ph.D

Source : color + design, Ron Reed, 2012 & Functional color and design in health care environments by : Glidden Professional

Color & Healing

Use of Color In Hospitals :

Relaxed, renewal, freshness, reduce allergic responses.

Can ease tremors, twitching, and muscle spasms

Purity, cleanliness, birth.Was documented by Arab

physician Avicenna as an indicator of spleen disorder based on

whitening of skin color

Reference : Color + Design by Ron Reed, University of North Texas

Related Works:

Evidence Based Designers (EBD) are practitioners employ credible data and research to influence design decisions.

In the 1990s, the Center for Health Design, a non-profit organization, was committed to advancing design in healthcare settings to improve patient outcomes. They launched the Pebble Project in 2000 to encourage the adoption of stricter research methodology, data collection and collaboration for healthcare designers.

Color in Healthcare Environments: This color study was funded by the Coalition for Health Environments Research (CHER, now known as The Center for Health Design [CHD] CHER) in 2002-2003, and written by Ruth Brent Tofle, PhD; Benyamin Schwarz, PhD; So-Yeon Yoon, MA; and Andrea Max-Royale, MEDes.

Discussion/ Conclusion:

• In conclusion , first, we discuss about the use of color in healthcare settings currently is not based on significant research. It is based on highly biased observations, and pseudo-scientific assertions.

• If we want to have evidence-based guidelines, we need to understand what particular colors are supposed to do, and why, before we can proceed to implement them in a healthcare setting and before we can judge whether thesecolors do it well.

Future Work:

• The future work will be creation of interactive interface which helps in changing the color of the room and also dress color of doctors according to health condition of patient.

Deliverables:

• A booklet / Info-graphics / Series of Posters.

References :

• Color + Design ( Book)---- Ron Reed, University of North Texas

• Color in Healthcare Environments: This color study was funded by the Coalition for Health Environments Research (CHER, now known as The Center for Health Design [CHD] CHER) in 2002-2003, and written by Ruth Brent Tofle, PhD; Benyamin Schwarz, PhD; So-Yeon Yoon, MA; and Andrea Max-Royale, MEDes

• Creating a Healing Environment in the ICU. Chapter 3 article by Renee Rubert L. Dianne Long Melissa L. Hutchinson

• Lighting and color for hospital design : A Report on an NHS Estates Funded Research Project Hilary Dalke*, Paul J Littlefair+, David L Loe+, +BRE, *London South BankUniversity

• The Application of color in Health Care Settings book by Sheila J. Bosch, PhD, LEED AP, EDAC Director of Research Gresham, Smith and Partners Rosalyn Cama, FASID, EDAC President and Principal CAMA Inc. Eve Edelstein, MArch, PhD, EDAC, AssocAIA, F-AAA President Innovative Design Science Jain Malkin, CID, AAHID, EDACPresident JAIN MALKIN INC

• Wood and Human Health : Wood & Human Health series , David Fell, FP Innovations, The University of British Columbia

Online Resources:

• A summary of Color in Healthcare Environments: A Critical Review of the Research Literature by JEAN M. YOUNG, ASID, CID, AAHID : from internet

Link : http://www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com/article/summary- color-healthcare-environments-critical-review-research-literature

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

The Effect of Health Care Working Conditions on Patient Safety. Evidence

Report/Technology Assessment: Number 74. AHRQ Publication No. 03- E024, 2003:

http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/worksum.htm

• Functional Color and Design in Healthcare Environments Sponsored by Glidden Professional:

• Link: http://continuingeducation.construction.com/crs.php?L=222&C=928

• Guideline for ICU Design:

• http://www.sccm.org/professional_resources/guidelines/table_of_contents/documents/ICU_design.pdf

• Healing by Design:

www.muhc-healing.mcgill.ga/english/speakers/hamilton_pl.html

• Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Patient Centered Care, and the PlanetreeModel:

http://www.ihi.org

• The Pebble Project:

http://www.healthdesign.org/research/pebble/

• Smith J., & Crawford, L.

Report of findings from the practice and professional issues survey Spring 2003. National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2004 (15):

http://www.ncsbn.org/pdfs/RB15_SO3PPI_ESforWeb.pdf

Thank You