Importance Of Physical Environment Research Articles

If You Don’t Use It, You Lose It: Perspectives of Older Adults on Aging in Place in Subsidized Housing

Nearly 3 million older Americans with low incomes live in subsidized housing. This population has disproportionate rates of functional impairment, cognitive impairment, and nursing home admission. Patient-centered interventions are needed to improve aging in place for this population, but little is known about resident perspectives on this topic. We interviewed 58 residents aged 62 or older and 8 caregivers from 7 housing sites. We analyzed transcripts using qualitative thematic analysis. Participants reported that several factors impacted their ability to age in place. First, most participants noted the importance of physical environment, including the design and location of their apartment building. Physical accessibility and proximity to community resources facilitated aging in place, while features such as heavy doors and smoke in communal areas posed challenges. Second, most participants identified the importance of the building’s social environment; support received from other residents and on-site staff facilitated aging in place, while gossip and unpleasant residents were barriers. Third, participants noted that health issues such as arthritis limited their ability to function independently, regardless of environment. Participants emphasized the importance of physical activity for preventing functional decline, stating, “if you don’t use it, you lose it.” Older adults living in subsidized housing view their environment as central to their ability to age in place. Our findings suggest that interventions to improve aging in place in these settings must focus not only on optimizing residents’ physical function, but also on using the environment to promote resident independence and quality of life.

Construct validity of the Dining Environment Audit Protocol: a secondary data analysis of the Making Most of Mealtimes (M3) study

BackgroundResearch has demonstrated the importance of physical environments at mealtimes for residents in long term care (LTC). However, a lack of a standardized measurement to assess physical dining environments has resulted in inconsistent research with potentially invalid and unreliable conclusions. The development of a standardized, construct valid instrument that assesses dining rooms is imperative to systematically examine physical environments in LTC. The purpose of this study was to determine the construct validity of the new Dining Environment Audit Protocol (DEAP) tool.MethodsSecondary data collected from the Making Most of Mealtimes (M3) study was used for this analysis. Data were collected in 32 long term care homes, which included 82 dining rooms and 639 residents. A variety of resident and dining room level constructs were compared to the summative scales found on the DEAP using Spearman correlations and Student t-tests. A regression analysis identified individual characteristics assessed with DEAP that were associated with the summative scales of homelikeness and functionality.ResultsRegression analysis (p < 0.05) identified that the DEAP homelikeness scale was positively associated with a view of the garden/green space, presence of a clock and a posted menu. The functionality scale was positively associated with number of chairs and lighting, while negatively associated with furniture with rounded edges and clutter. Additionally, the functionality scale was positively associated (p < 0.05) with the Mealtime Scan physical scale (ρ = 0.52), the dining room Mealtime-Relational Care Checklist (M-RCC) (ρ = 0.25), the DEAP total score (ρ = 0.56), and the Mini Nutritional Assessment- Short Form (ρ = 0.26). Homelikeness was positively associated (p < 0.05) with the DEAP total score (ρ = 0.53), staff Person Directed Care score (ρ = 0.49) and the resident Cognitive Performance Scale (t = 2.56), while negatively associated with energy (ρ = −0.26) and protein intake (ρ = −0.24). The homelikeness and functionality scales were also associated with one another (ρ = 0.26).ConclusionThe construct validity of the DEAP was supported through significant correlations with a variety of measures that are theoretically related to the homelikeness and functionality of LTC dining rooms. This secondary analysis supports the use of the DEAP in future research to quantify the physical environment of LTC dining rooms.Protocol registered with ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02800291; Registered retrospectively June 7, 2016.

Teacher’s classroom management practices for increasing effectiveness in climate change in Nigeria.

Classroom environment and cultures as well as the ways in which both students and learning are organized and managed increase teachers’ effectiveness in climate change. The effective teacher manages the large number of relatively diverse students who occupy these classrooms within the environment. The importance of physical environment, climate culture, organization and management of classroom within the larger context of teachers effectiveness is mostly clearly seen by noting that beginning or novice teachers takes longer time to be effective in the classroom. This paper discuss classroom management practices for teacher effectiveness in terms of environment climate culture, organization and management in a climate change. Conclusion and recommendations on managing classroom for increasing teacher effectiveness in climate change for policy makers and educational planners in Nigeria were offered.

The Role of Physical Environment in Leisure Service Consumption: Evidence From a Ski Resort Setting

Despite the importance of physical environment in hedonic service consumption, little is known about the extent to which physical environment influences ski resort visitors’ cognition, emotion, and behaviors. This study investigated the relationships among physical environmental stimuli (i.e., layout accessibility, aesthetics, cleanliness, and other visitors), perceived quality of physical environment, excitement, and behavioral intentions in ski resort. This study also attempted to test the moderating role of enduring involvement in the formation of behavioral intentions. Results showed that cleanliness and other visitors significantly and positively influenced visitors’ perceived quality of physical environment and excitement. The results suggest that physical environment is of great importance for the ski resort business. Perceived quality was indeed a significant predictor of excitement, which, in turn, positively influenced behavioral intentions. Finally, the study found that the effect of excitement on behavioral intentions was significant across high and low enduring involvement groups.

The Impact of Modularized Interior Landscape on Office Workers’ Psychological Wellbeing

As office workers tend to spend more time indoors nowadays, the importance of physical environments has been emphasized. Those who work longer hours in the office are likely to get more stress from the environments. A number of studies have proved that the plants (natural elements) were effective in relieving stress. Therefore, it is concluded that interior landscape is effective on enhancing the psychological wellbeing of office workers.The purposes of this study were as follows: (1) to determine the best modularized designs through rating psychological indices, and (2) to prove its effectiveness by applying those designs onto actual office environments.This study was conducted from April, 2012 to April, 2013. The subjects of the study were comprised of 124 juniors and seniors in Seoul Women’s University. They are university students who are seeking jobs upon graduation. To this end, field investigations, surveys, and literature reviews were conducted.The results of the study indicated as follows: First, the most optimal models for psychological wellbeing have been derived. Second, the interior landscape had a positive effect on the psychological wellbeing of the office workers. On the basis of these findings, interior landscape with greens plays a big role in promoting the psychological wellbeing of the office workers. Also, its effect can be maximized when modularized design is combined with interior landscape. The limit of this study lies in its simplicity of design elements as emotional design aspects were quantified for statistical processing. In the near future, further studies focusing on various design elements need to be carried out. To sum up, the researcher hopes that these findings contribute to psychological recovery of the office workers, and interior landscape becomes more prevalent in the workplace. Keywords: modularized design, physical environments, psychological recovery

업무공간에서 모듈화 된 실내조경이 업무자의 심리적 회복에 미치는 효과 - 업무공간 벽면조경을 중심으로 한 예비연구 -

As office workers tend to spend more time indoors nowadays, the importance of physical environments has been emphasized. Those who work longer hours in the office are likely to get more stress from the environments. A number of studies have proved that the plants (natural elements) were effective in relieving stress. Therefore, it is concluded that interior landscape is effective on enhancing the psychological wellbeing of office workers. The purposes of this study were as follows: (1) to determine the best modulized designs through rating psychological indices, and (2) to prove its effectiveness by applying those designs onto actual office environments. This study was conducted from April, 2012 to November, 2012. The subjects of the study were comprised of 154 juniors and seniors in Seoul Women's University. They are university students who are seeking jobs upon graduation. To this end, field investigations, surveys, and literature reviews were conducted. The results of the study indicated as follows: First, the most optimal models for psychological wellbeing have been derived. Second, the interior landscape had a positive effect on the psychological wellbeing of the office workers. On the basis of these findings, interior landscape with greens plays a big role in promoting the psychological wellbeing of the office workers. Also, its effect can be maximized when modulized design is combined with interior landscape. The limit of this study lies in its simplicity of design elements as emotional design aspects were quantified for statistical processing. In the near future, further studies focusing on various design elements need to be carried out. To sum up, the researcher hopes that these findings contribute to psychological recovery of the office workers, and interior landscape becomes more prevalent in the workplace.

Risk factors of burns among children in Mongolia

Burn is one of the leading causes of under-5 childhood injuries. Identification of risk factors and awareness level of caregivers could help reduction of burn-related morbidity. The objectives of this study were to identify general perceptions of risk factors of childhood burns, prevalence of burns among under-five Mongolian children, and to assess knowledge and practice of burn care and care seeking behaviors for care givers of those children. A household-based cross-sectional survey was conducted from September to October 2010 including 865 households with 1154 under-5 children. Data were collected by face-to-face interview using semi-structured questionnaire. Of total 1154 children, 291 (25.2%) had burn injury in their life-time. Above half of them had suffered a scald. Majority of burns occurred at home and urban children were at higher risk. The age up to 36 months, boys, and fewer children (<3) in the household were found as significant risk factors for childhood burns. Caregivers’ knowledge and practices on childhood burns were generally insufficient; most of them indicated the importance of physical environment at home. We concluded that burns were common among under-5 children, and caregivers’ knowledge and practices on burns was inadequate. Specific interventions like “Caregivers education program” encouraging safe domestic environmental conditions should be undertaken to increase their awareness on burn-related issues to reduce childhood burns in Mongolia.

A Study on the Importance of Physical Environment and Customer Satisfaction by Fine Dining Restaurant Use Behavior

A Study on the Importance of Physical Environment and Customer Satisfaction by Fine Dining Restaurant Use Behavior

A Study on the Importance of Physical Environment and Customer Satisfaction by Fine Dining Restaurant Use Behavior

A Study on the Importance of Physical Environment and Customer Satisfaction by Fine Dining Restaurant Use Behavior