Assessing The Impact of Physical Environments on Patient's Personal Recovery and Well-Being in Psychiatric Units
The study develops and validates two tools—a patient questionnaire and an expert rating scale—to assess how psychiatric facility design supports recovery. Tested with inpatients, these instruments aim to guide evidence‑based, recovery‑oriented improvements in mental health care environments.
Description
Mental health recovery is a complex biopsychosocial process increasingly acknowledged to be influenced by the physical design of care environments. Yet current assessment tools fail to adequately capture how psychiatric facility design supports patient recovery.
This project aims to develop and validate two complementary instruments 1) a psychometrically robust patient reported questionnaire to assess perceptions of recovery supportive environments and 2) an expert driven environmental rating scale based on evidence based design principles.
Conducted in collaboration with the Centre Neuchâtelois de Psychiatrie, the study will involve psychometric testing with psychiatric inpatients. The resulting tools are expected to inform recovery oriented facility design and provide actionable metrics for clinicians, architects and policymakers seeking to enhance psychiatric care environments.
Key data
Projectlead
Claire Daugeard (Centre Neuchâtelois de Psychiatrie)
Project team
Dr. Clara Weber, Prof. Dr. Christoph Hölscher (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich ETHZ)
Project partners
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich ETHZ / Department of Humanities, Social and Political Science; Centre Neuchâtelois de Psychiatrie
Project status
ongoing, started 01/2026
Institute/Centre
Institute of Facility Management (IFM)
Funding partner
Public sector (excl. federal government)
Project budget
57'000 CHF
