ANXIETY AND SATISFACTION OF PATIENTS IN FOUR HOSPITAL DESIGNS.
Contributors: University Of Illinois At Chicago, Health Sciences Center.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 136
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Identification of physical aspects of the hospital environment as potential stress-reducing factors based on needs of patients for specific environmental support has historically received little attention. In the literature, patients have expressed that proximity to nursing staff supports feelings of security and well-being. Radial nursing unit design consistently provides this relationship while other nuclear configurations (triangular and cluster) do so to a lesser extent. Rectangular designs do not provide such proximity.

This research examined self-reported levels of anxiety and satisfaction with nursing care in designs which provided nuclear (radial, triangular, and cluster) and linear (rectangular) relationships between nurses and patients. Relationships between reported levels of satisfaction and anxiety and the propensity to respond in a socially desirable manner were also examined. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Risser's Patient Satisfaction Instrument, and a shortened form of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale were administered to 226 adult medical-surgical patients in four designs within three hospitals. Predictions were that patients in nuclear designs would be more satisfied with care and less anxious than those in rectangular designs and that patients with higher scores on the social desirability scale would report higher levels of satisfaction. The hypotheses were not supported.

Research and clinical implications include the need for definitions of a psychological comfort construct and of patient needs which are the basis for satisfaction with care. The identification of environmental factors that are considered positive conditions from the patient's perspective could support environmental assessments and manipulations of extant nursing units as well as planning future units.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-01, Section: B, page: 0112.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO, HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER, 1984.

School code: 0806.