Exploring Age-appropriate Design Attributes of Hospital Activity Rooms for Adolescent Patients

Although health professionals have recognized critical connections between health outcomes and physical hospital settings, research data on adolescent patients’ age-appropriate hospital design is insufficient, especially for activity rooms. To explore age-appropriate spatial needs and hospital room design attributes for adolescent patients, the present study examined their spatial needs in hospitals and their perceptions of hospital activity room photos. Thirty-two adolescent outpatients from a university hospital in Kentucky, aged between 15 and 18, completed the survey. Adolescents’ spatial needs during their hospital stays were surveyed on a 5-point Likert scale, and the highly rated need was to have privacy control, followed by the need for quiet places and activity places. The participants’ perceptions of the four hospital activity room photos were collected using twenty-two adjective words on a 5-point scale. The finding revealed that adolescent patients need activity rooms to meet and socialize with their peers during their hospital stays. The statistical analysis revealed enjoyable, controllable, and adult-like as the dominant design attributes of age-appropriate activity rooms for adolescent patients. Unlike activity areas in pediatric hospitals, adolescent hospital activity rooms should be enjoyable to adolescents and allow them to control privacy while providing opportunities to meet their peers.