Korean Pediatric Patients' Preferences for Patient Room Design

Abstract

The visual sensory information in physical environments can induce or reduce occupants' stress. In healthcare settings, positive environmental stimulations can promote patient well-being by reducing their stress: poor health environments work against a patient's health. Changing the color in a patient room is an inexpensive process and thus finding better colors for healthcare settings is a cost effective method of improving healing environments. Color may have important implications for pediatric patients, but the investigation of Korean populations has been non-existent. The purpose of this study was to investigate Korean pediatric patients' color preferences for patient room design. The color preferences from 50 Korean pediatric patients were recorded and investigated for gender effects. A simulation method was used because of its reliability and feasibility, allowing for investigating the value of color in real contexts and controlling confounding variables. The overall color preferences from Korean pediatric patients showed that they preferred blue the most and white the least. Gender differences were found in red and purple. Girls preferred red and purple more than boys. The results from this study can help healthcare providers and designers better understand appropriate colors for Korean pediatric patient populations.