The Research On Healthcare Colors Essay

Whether we realize it or not, the colors around us influence our lives. From the psychology standpoint, some colors offer optimistic thinking while others tend to make us have short tempers. As a result, we need to strive to make sure that our design color schemes do not provoke negative reactions. Miclaus put it this way, “Imagine switching colors in the natural world. Could we live with a yellow sky, fuchsia grass, or a black sun”(2011)?The Research On Healthcare Colors Essay

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Several studies have been conducted on the psychology of colors that conclude to the same result. However, the same cannot be said of evidence and studies done on colors specifically within a healthcare environment. The methods for conducting the research on healthcare colors has also been different. Some studies conduct questionnaires around where a hospital will be built while others observe groups within their environment.
Finding resources that agreed on the influences of colors in healthcare was challenging. It was challenging because many journals or design articles would contradict an article I had just read from another source. The Healthcare Design Magazine wrote an article entry on healing hues for healthcare. Their journal entry was an interview with Jackie Jordan, who works for Sherwin-Williams as the director of color marketing (Silvis, 2012).
The interview starts off by identifying common mistakes in selecting colors for a healthcare environment. The common mistakes according to the Healthcare Design Magazine include putting the wrong colors in the wrong places, the kind of color, and the saturation of the color (Silvis, 2012). The example Jackie Jordan gave was placing a bold color in a patient’s room.

Why Color Matters in Healthcare Facilities
The report issued by the CHD is titled “The Application of Color in Healthcare Settings,” and it was authored by Sheila Bosch, Rosalyn Cama, Eve Edelstein, and Jain Malkin.The Research On Healthcare Colors Essay

According to the report, there is disagreement among researchers whether colors can actually speed-up healing, but they also note well-established research showing that the colors present in a surrounding can elicit and strengthen moods and emotions and that this effect is especially important to consider when building or remodeling a healthcare facility.

Research on this topic started in 1994 when a sample of 68 patients was surveyed about which colors they preferred in their hospital rooms. All of them reported that lighter, more natural tones were more soothing than darker colors combinations and that sharp contrasts between colors created a greater feeling of stress for both patients and visitors.
The age of the patient was also found to be a factor when considering color in a hospital or clinic. Bright designs and color combinations are found to work better in pediatric settings, and neutral tones are found to be more helpful in stress reduction in geriatric settings.The Research On Healthcare Colors Essay

A hospital stay, and even a visit to the doctor’s office or clinic is often a stressful event for patients and their caregivers, and staff in these facilities are also affected by the color of their surroundings.

Research shows that for healthcare providers, bright colors are more effective in break rooms where workers take short breaks and then resume work, and soft, dark colors are more effective in helping healthcare workers who need a place for a longer rest period.

This research project examined to what extent atmospherics affect people’s mood and cognitive
performance in meeting rooms. More specifically, the research question was: To what extent do
colour and scent, also in combined application based on arousal congruence, affect people’s mood
and cognitive performance in meeting rooms? Thereby it was checked if arousal worked as a
mediator and sensation seeking, gender, age and education as moderators. Cool colours and
relaxing scents, compared to warm colours and stimulating scents, were expected to lead to
improved mood and enhanced cognitive performance because of the fact that low-arousing
features have less distracting properties. Based on the processing fluency theory, it was predicted
that an environment elicits a positive response when the environmental features were congruent in
terms of arousal. In general, arousal congruence leads to easier processing which in turns leads to
positive evaluations and more favorable attitudes.
In total, 122 participants completed a cognitive performance test and a questionnaire in a
meeting room in one of the four colour-scent conditions: blue-sandalwood, red-peppermint
(congruence) and blue-peppermint and red-sandalwood (incongruence). These environmental
features were selected based on a stimulating/relaxing rate.
Use of cool colours and relaxing scents, compared to warm colours and stimulating scents,
led to less feelings of arousal in meeting rooms. The effects of combined application of colour and
scent based on arousal congruence on pleasure were moderated by gender and thrill and
adventure seeking, a subscale of sensation seeking. Use of cool colours also led to improved
performance on a demanding cognitive task. However, on a more detail-oriented cognitive task,
performance of individuals improved in a warm coloured meeting room. Thereby, gender and
education moderated the effects of scent on a detail-oriented cognitive task. Combined application
of colour and scent resulted in enhanced performance on a high demanding cognitive task in
congruent conditions compared to incongruent conditions.
In conclusion, in case of making use of colour and scent separately, it is necessary to
provide insight in the activities that will take place in the meeting room. When making use of both
environmental features in a meeting room, it is recommended to combine colour and scent based
on arousal congruence.The Research On Healthcare Colors Essay
Acknowledgements

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After more than two and a half years there comes an end to my study Communication Studies at
the University of Twente. I can look back on an interesting period of time with both study-related
and non-study-related activities in Enschede. Early in the master Marketing Communication, I
became interested in the effects of environmental features on people in several fields of
application, for example in service environments like railway stations. During various courses in the
master and work as a student assistant, my interest in this subject increased and I decided to delve
further into the subject. This resulted in underlying report about the (combined) application of
colour and scent on people’s mood and cognitive performance in meeting rooms.
First of all I want to thank my first supervisor dr. Anna Fenko for supporting me in a great
way during the last eight months. She complemented my work with her insights about the
application of atmospherics. Thereby, I could always count on quick responses and it was always
possible to step into her office to discuss several aspects of this research project. I also want to
thank my second supervisor, prof. dr. Ad Pruyn, for helping me completing my study by means of
valuable feedback and suggestions. Then, I want to thank my girlfriend, family and friends for their
support and involvement in the last two and a half years. Their motivating words and valuable
advices have undoubtedly contributed to the final outcome. The Research On Healthcare Colors Essay