The Therapeutic Waiting Room: Therapist and Service User Perspectives on the Psychologically Supportive Dimensions of Architectural Space.

Abstract

Waiting areas in healthcare settings play an important role in reassuring or potentially further distressing service users. The effects of the designed environment on mental health service users specifically are regarded by health professionals as having a considerable influence on treatment outcomes, experiences, and perceptions of care. The purpose of this article is to explore service user and practicing therapist perspectives of waiting areas in mental health service settings and how the design of these spaces affects anxiety levels, comfort, therapeutic relationships, outcomes, and perceptions of care. The methodology for this exploratory phenomenological study was developed in order to preserve the integrity of participant voices in the essences of experiences, during explorations of their encounters with therapeutic waiting areas. Fieldwork undertaken by the author involved a series of focused in-depth interviews with service users of mental health services and practicing therapists, counselors, and psychologists. Key themes identified through data analysis include (1) space acting as symbolism, (2) interpersonal relations which are threatening, and (3) sensory modulation. Design implications in relation to each theme are presented. This study uncovered a set of findings in relation to symbolic content inferred by spatial design aspects and the ways in which design can afford, or mitigate, development of interpersonal agencies, psychological safety, and negative stigmas. Future transdisciplinary research directions are suggested, including (1) examination of other relationships, beyond the service user-therapist dyad, which may influence waiting area experiences and (2) examination of the applicability of design suggestions to different contexts.