Spatial Needs and Design Criteria of Occupational Therapy Facilities for Mental Health

• Main Authors: Chun-Ling Chen, 陳君陵
• Other Authors: Kung-Jen Tu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/32343407432101260018

碩士 === 國立臺灣科技大學 === 建築系 === 100 === Occupational therapy is an important part in mental health care. The aim of mental health care is not only to treat the symptoms, but also to recover the functions and to prevent from the illness. The intervention of occupational therapist in mental health starts from analyzing the function and dysfunction parts of a client in holistic perspective, and lists the individual rehabilitation programs for the client. Next, the occupational therapist sets different goals in each purposeful activity. The client develops, redevelops, or maintains his/ her functions through joining the activities. In Taiwan, occupational therapists do their jobs in mental health care institutions. However, there are no detailed design guidelines for occupational therapy facilities in these institutions. The aims of this study are: (1) studying the occupational therapy facilities in use to compile using problems and needs; (2) proposing the design guidelines of occupational therapy facility for mental health after classifying the needs and referring the books of healthcare design. First, we reviewed the literatures of the development of mental health care and mental health care facilities, and then analyzed the using patterns of occupational therapy spaces in mental health. Second, we investigated occupational therapy department of 2 psychiatric hospitals and 6 community rehabilitation centers. By measuring the spaces and equipments and interviewing one occupational therapist, we figured out the using patterns, problems, and needs of occupational therapy facility in mental health. Finally, we proposed design guidelines by referring the books of healthcare design and integrating the outcomes of investigation. According to the law, occupational therapy facility in mental health has to set therapy room(s), consult space(s), rest space(s), administration space(s), and service space(s). For different therapy purposes and processes, there are specific needs in therapy room(s) and consult space(s), including: (1) the room(s) need to be separate; (2) there have to be large and small rooms; (3) the shape of the room(s) need to be square; (4) the equipments in the room(s) need to have flexibility to adjust; (5) staffs need to handle the security of entire facility. After investigation, we found that the most common problems in occupational therapy facility in mental health were: (1) unsuitable space size; (2) improper space configuration; (3) security and safety problems; (4) inapplicable equipments; (5) poor ventilation; (6) inappropriate space shape; (7) inadequate room numbers; (8) insufficient storage spaces; (9) poor design of circulation; (10) wrong drainage and anti-slip installation. Afterward, we chose one psychiatric hospital facility in Germany and one community mental health facility in USA as good design examples. Follow the results of investigation and design details of the examples, we listed 116 design guidelines for location of facility, space configuration, and specific requirements of therapy rooms, consult rooms, service spaces, public areas (such as entrance and public space), administration areas and others (such as architrctural details, security and safety, and therapeutic environment). Finally, we tried to plan the ideal occupational therapy facility in mental health.