Inclusive Healthcare Environments: Prioritizing the Preferences of Children with Disabilities and Their Families

Why It Matters

This research highlights the critical need to move beyond generic design solutions in healthcare settings. By actively incorporating the lived experiences and preferences of vulnerable user groups, designers can create more equitable, accessible, and supportive environments that directly impact patient well-being and family satisfaction.

Key Finding

Children with disabilities and their families have specific needs and preferences regarding the design of healthcare spaces, and accommodating these can greatly improve their experience and well-being.

Key Findings

• Children with disabilities and their families have distinct preferences for healthcare built environment features.
• These preferences are crucial for optimizing their experiences within these settings.
• Leveraging these findings can lead to more inclusive pediatric healthcare spaces.

Research Evidence

Aim: What are the preferred built environment features in pediatric healthcare settings for children with disabilities and their families, and how can these preferences inform more inclusive design practices?

Method: Scoping Review

Procedure: The researchers conducted a comprehensive review of existing literature to identify studies detailing the experiences and preferences of children with disabilities and their families regarding the built environment in pediatric healthcare settings.

Context: Pediatric healthcare built environments

Design Principle

Design for inclusivity by co-creating environments that are responsive to the diverse needs and preferences of all users, especially those with disabilities.

How to Apply

Conduct user research with children with disabilities and their families to identify specific environmental needs, such as sensory considerations, accessibility features, and family comfort zones, and integrate these into design proposals.

Limitations

The review's findings are based on existing literature, which may have its own inherent biases or gaps in representing all possible user experiences.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: When designing places like hospitals for kids with disabilities, it's super important to ask them and their families what they like and need. This helps make the place better for everyone.

Why This Matters: Understanding user preferences is key to creating designs that are not only functional but also empathetic and supportive, especially for vulnerable populations.

Critical Thinking: How might the preferences identified in this review differ across various types of disabilities or age groups within the pediatric population?

IA-Ready Paragraph: This research underscores the importance of user-centered design in healthcare environments, particularly for children with disabilities and their families. By prioritizing their specific preferences for built environment features, designers can create more inclusive and supportive spaces that enhance the overall experience and quality of life for these users.

Project Tips

• When researching user needs, consider diverse abilities and family structures.
• Use qualitative methods to capture nuanced preferences and experiences.

How to Use in IA

• Reference this study when justifying design choices that are informed by user research, particularly concerning accessibility and user experience in specialized environments.

Examiner Tips

• Demonstrate a clear understanding of how user research directly informs design decisions, especially for specific user groups.

Independent Variable: Built environment features in pediatric healthcare settings

Dependent Variable: Experiences and preferences of children with disabilities and their families

Strengths

• Provides a broad overview of existing research on the topic.
• Highlights the importance of user preferences in healthcare design.

Critical Questions

• What are the potential conflicts between the preferences of children with disabilities and the practical or economic constraints of healthcare facility design?
• How can designers effectively translate qualitative user preferences into tangible design solutions?

Extended Essay Application

• A potential Extended Essay could explore the impact of specific sensory design elements (e.g., lighting, acoustics) on the comfort and anxiety levels of children with autism spectrum disorder in a hospital setting, drawing on the principles of user-centered design and evidence from this review.

Source

A Scoping Review of Pediatric Healthcare Built Environment Experiences and Preferences Among Children With Disabilities and Their Families · HERD Health Environments Research & Design Journal · 2023 · 10.1177/19375867231218035