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Article
Publication date: 9 January 2024

Ebru Baykal Uluoz and Göksenin Inalhan

This paper aims to propose and provide an overview of a model analysis that considers the main spatial design attributes that influence and produce the most relevant salutogenic

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose and provide an overview of a model analysis that considers the main spatial design attributes that influence and produce the most relevant salutogenic outcomes. These results are essential for a healthy work experience, especially in shared workspaces.

Design/methodology/approach

This study departs from the theoretical contributions of the salutogenic approach, principles from supportive design theory, psychosocial supportive design and the environmental demands and resources model. After a scoping literature review covering different fields of workspace design, environmental psychology and evidence-based design of health-care facilities, a conceptual analysis is done on a proposed understanding of work, health and environmental relations to overview spatial attributes that enhance specific salutogenic and well-being-promoting outcomes needed for a healthy work experience.

Findings

The model of analysis, as a theoretical element that helps create methodological tools, combined with the application of a post occupancy evaluation, is thought to assist architects, designers, workspace owners and stakeholders in their new designs or to evaluate existing ones.

Originality/value

Studies on defining spatial attributes and their intended salutogenic outcomes have been formally done in health-care facilities. However, applying this idea to shared workspaces is something new and is expected to contribute to their design and evaluation, especially if the notion of environmental demands and resources is complemented.

Details

Journal of Corporate Real Estate , vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-001X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2020

Melina Forooraghi, Elke Miedema, Nina Ryd and Holger Wallbaum

This paper aims to explore the literature on office design approaches (ODAs) in relation to employee health. The overall goal is to facilitate the practical use and theoretical…

1128

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the literature on office design approaches (ODAs) in relation to employee health. The overall goal is to facilitate the practical use and theoretical development of design approaches to healthy offices.

Design/methodology/approach

A scoping review of 7,432 papers collected from 4 electronic databases and 5 scientific journals resulted in the selection of 18 papers for content analysis.

Findings

Various ODAs relating to building design features and health were identified. The findings highlight challenges for this emergent field, including a paucity of literature on ODAs, a lack of definitions of health and healthy offices, ambiguous design strategies and a lack of a holistic ODA.

Originality/value

ODAs are potentially valuable resources but an under-considered topic for healthy office development. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first scoping review to map and compare different design approaches in the context of office design and its main contribution is in encouraging researchers and practitioners to bring a salutogenic and holistic perspective to their design approaches.

Details

Journal of Corporate Real Estate , vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-001X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 April 2018

Dee Gray and Katherine Jones

Wellbeing at work inspires global interest (WHO, 1997, 2010) which shapes international wellbeing whilst ensuring national wellbeing initiatives are devolved. This study is set in…

1158

Abstract

Purpose

Wellbeing at work inspires global interest (WHO, 1997, 2010) which shapes international wellbeing whilst ensuring national wellbeing initiatives are devolved. This study is set in Wales, UK; the findings, however, are of interest to the global community as they present ways in which health promotion practices that are essentially salutogenic in nature (Antonovsky, 1987; Mittlemark and Bauer, 2017), may be operationalised through leadership development. The study is contextualised during a time of perceived public service overwhelm, and the purpose of this paper is to explore how a salutogenic model (Gray, 2017) captures a leadership narrative shaped by workplace stress, informing what the authors know about the resilience and wellbeing of leaders.

Design/methodology/approach

The salutogenic model used in this exploratory study is based on the theories of Antonovsky (1979, 1987), and the conceptual work of De la Vega (2009). Participants were invited to take part in qualitative conversations, designed to explore leadership from a sense of coherence (SoC) perspective, and identify resilience and wellbeing descriptors across sectors. The data represented the lived experience of leader’s resilience and wellbeing within their work role. A purposeful sample of leaders (N=356) were invited to take part in the project, others were suggested as part of a snowball sampling approach (N=36). The overall participant numbers were N=68.

Findings

Using the SoC framework to explore resilience and wellbeing in terms of leadership, enabled participants to make sense of a stressful workplace environment, and share experiential knowledge that contributes to leadership development. The narrative that emerges is one in which leaders are feeling overwhelmed, and the broader influences of BREXIT, workforce and service user demographics, and organisational change are challenges to sustaining resilience. Participants suggest that leaders need to develop self-knowledge/awareness first, and role model the “resilient and well leader” to others.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations of this study relate to the fact that given the potential for participation was nearer 400 leaders, the N=68 participants could not be deemed large enough to generalise the findings. However, this was a scoping study exercise, designed to explore resilience and wellbeing through SoC conversations and to surface descriptors that would add to what the authors know about contemporary leadership. The study could be improved in the future by the collection of more descriptors, and where practical segmentation of descriptors may provide further insight in terms of comparison between professions/sectors.

Practical implications

The authors know that leadership is linked to positive and negative outcomes for employees; it is, therefore, prudent to consider how the authors can support both current and future leaders, to incorporate their own and others’ resilience and wellbeing into their leadership repertoire. This may well be best facilitated through health leadership which is known to have a positive association in determining the psychological climate of the workplace. Leadership authenticity means leaders should be able to ask for help, if leaders are struggling with that, then the authors need to examine leadership from a cultural perspective. In practical terms, the generalised resistance resources (GRRs) put forward by the participants may also form local as well as national wellbeing action plans for the future.

Social implications

Leadership is socially constructed within the organisational context, and the resilience and wellbeing of leaders is affected by the organisational health determinants in the working environment. If the authors are to consider how leaders are to develop an SoC for themselves and others, the authors need to attend to how the leader learns in the context. This is because their SoC is also shaped by the challenges they experience, and socio-constructed learning becomes neurologically embedded, so that ways of thinking, feeling and behaving are reinforced and exhibited over and over again.

Originality/value

This exploratory study demonstrates the efficacy of the salutogenic model to stimulate dialogue about a potentially sensitive subject. Many of the answers rest with the leaders themselves. The authors held conversations with leaders from the public services in Wales, identified “best self” and “peripheral” variables that leaders manifest across the various organisations they lead, and leaders produced a range of GRRs to support resilience and wellbeing across sectors in the future. There is a growing recognition that in terms of health leadership capability, there will be a premium on knowledge capital that pertains to improving the resilience and wellbeing of employees.

Details

International Journal of Public Leadership, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-4929

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 17 January 2022

Stephanie Brick

Service members of the US Department of Defense (DoD) have alarmingly high rates of depression, anxiety, probable stress disorders and suicidality, all of which are negative…

2605

Abstract

Purpose

Service members of the US Department of Defense (DoD) have alarmingly high rates of depression, anxiety, probable stress disorders and suicidality, all of which are negative health conditions exacerbated by various external stressors. High-stress work conditions – to include shift work, hazardous territories, high-stakes mission sets and generally disconnected sites – require a work environment that facilitates, rather than inhibits, stress reduction and mental well-being. This paper aims to present “salutogenic design” as an innovative approach: Salutogenic design offers demonstrated architectural solutions that improve health and well-being.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper describes salutogenic design strategies beginning with the need for such an approach, the call to action to implement strategic and tactical solutions and the challenges and financial impacts of such a broad and innovative strategy to improve workplace health, well-being and performance in the DoD and beyond. Examples of these strategies, via biophilic design solutions, are presented in the central Table 1 as an easy-to-reference tool and supported by the voluminous literature as referenced, in part, through this research paper.

Findings

Salutogenic design strategies offer innovative, financially viable solutions to help mitigate stress and improve workforce well-being while maintaining the highest level of building security requirements in access-controlled spaces and disconnected sites, such as military installations and government compounds.

Research limitations/implications

Issues of mental and physical health are complex and multi-faceted, and they require complex and multi-faceted solutions. Salutogenic design is presented as one facet of that solution: a tangible solution to an often-intangible issue. Further, as a novel approach to address a critical DoD issue, Table 1 bridges the common gap between high-concept design theory and practical construction-application solutions, with positive value to the health, performance, quality-of-life and well-being of service members.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to approach the DoD’s imperative to reduce service members’ mental stress with “salutogenic design.”

Details

Facilities , vol. 40 no. 15/16
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-2772

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 October 2021

Faezeh Ghaffari, Maryam Shabak, Nima Norouzi and Siyamak Nayyeri Fallah

This study aimed at the identification of perceptional environment properties in hospital public spaces that can affect salutogenic components and patients' overall satisfaction…

5204

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed at the identification of perceptional environment properties in hospital public spaces that can affect salutogenic components and patients' overall satisfaction and suggested a conceptual framework.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic review focused on specific steps to clarify the impact of public spaces' environmental quality on patients' satisfaction through the salutogenic approach. Searches were conducted in five databases and four scientific journals.

Findings

Five perceptional environment components of hospital public spaces: physical–psychological comfort, visibility, accessibility, legibility and relationability can be related to three indicators of salutogenic approach: manageability, perception and meaning and can be evaluated in patients' overall satisfaction: desire to use hospital again, to recommend the hospital to others, to prefer hospital to other healthcare environments and to trust in the hospital.

Originality/value

Despite studies on healthcare environments, there is a lack of research on the salutogenic approach in hospital public spaces. Therefore, this paper focuses on the environmental quality in public spaces as an influence on patients' satisfaction with the salutogenic perspective to create a health-promoting environment.

Details

International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, vol. 41 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-4708

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 June 2021

Stuart McClean, Sanda Ismail and Emma Bird

This paper aims to provide critical insight into the impact of locally embedded, community business-related approaches internationally to health and social care on users’…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide critical insight into the impact of locally embedded, community business-related approaches internationally to health and social care on users’ outcomes, in particular exploring their effectiveness in delivering outcomes for users.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a robust systematic review methodology. It carefully identifies relevant studies that have been conducted on the impact of community business-related approaches, rigorously evaluates how well these studies have been carried out and combines the results from these studies to address that particular topic.

Findings

Health and social care-related community businesses deliver on a range of health and well-being outcomes and impacts positively on local residents’ satisfaction with their community/local area. Existing research into community businesses uses mostly qualitative methods, but a few studies have also used quantitative survey and mixed methods and demonstrate the challenges of conducting methodologically rigorous real-world research within local community settings.

Research limitations/implications

The review was limited to papers published in English language and may have missed relevant studies published in other languages which could have influenced the overall findings. Only one reviewer screened the titles and abstracts of the identified papers. Having multiple reviewers would have strengthened the validity of the screening process.

Originality/value

Community businesses offer a positive contribution to health and well-being, and highlight the significance of engaging local communities in promoting health, reducing health inequalities and addressing the wider determinants of health. This paper provides a baseline of evidence about community business’ broad impacts on health and well-being to help inform new and emerging evidence

Details

Social Enterprise Journal, vol. 17 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-8614

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 22 February 2022

Agnès Patuano, Ralitsa Shentova and Ana Aceska

The purpose of the article is to present some preliminary findings and discussions points from a symposium on Public Outdoor Spaces and COVID-19 organised in Wageningen, The…

2063

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the article is to present some preliminary findings and discussions points from a symposium on Public Outdoor Spaces and COVID-19 organised in Wageningen, The Netherlands, in June 2021.

Design/methodology/approach

The article argues for a salutogenic perspective on infrastructure planning and design, dealing with the interplay between the ideas and practices of infrastructure planning and design and the outcomes of those ideas and practices for health.

Findings

Within that perspective, the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is seen as an opportunity to revive the importance of infrastructure in promoting health and well-being.

Originality/value

The salutogenic approach adds a much-needed new perspective on infrastructure planning and design, and also involves challenges both in research and practice, for the application of holistic principles to the design of new environments.

Details

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 15 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8378

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2019

Michael Roskams and Barry Haynes

The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss opportunities for health promotion through the workplace environment, adopting a “salutogenic” perspective of health which…

1276

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss opportunities for health promotion through the workplace environment, adopting a “salutogenic” perspective of health which more explicitly focuses on factors that support human health and well-being, as opposed to factors which cause disease.

Design/methodology/approach

In the introduction, the salutogenic model of health and the Environmental Demands-Resources model are discussed, providing a conceptual framework to represent the workplace environment as a composite of pathogenic “demands” and salutogenic “resources”. Subsequently, a narrative review is performed to discuss the existing literature from the perspective of this novel framework, identifying environmental resources which might strengthen the three components of an employee’s “sense of coherence” (comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness), an individual orientation associated with more positive health outcomes.

Findings

Comprehensibility can be supported by effectively implementing a clear set of rules governing the use of the workplace. Manageability can be supported through biophilic design solutions, and through design which supports social cohesion and physical activity. Meaningfulness can be supported by recognising the importance of personal identity expression and through design which reinforces the employees’ sense of purpose.

Originality/value

The salutogenic perspective is a potentially valuable but relatively under-considered paradigm in workplace practice. The key contribution of this paper is to encourage researchers and practitioners to recognise the crucial role that an individual’s sense of coherence plays in supporting higher levels of physical and mental health, so that they increase their ability to provide truly “healthy” workplaces, capable of promoting health as well as minimising the risk of disease.

Details

Journal of Corporate Real Estate , vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-001X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 May 2022

Oluyinka Olutola Olajire and Isaac Akintoyese Oyekola

The purpose of this study is to subject faith-based organizations (FBOs)-operated social reintegration programs for recovering drug addicts to scrutiny to understand their…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to subject faith-based organizations (FBOs)-operated social reintegration programs for recovering drug addicts to scrutiny to understand their effectiveness in addressing the three-pillar social needs.

Design/methodology/approach

Using concurrent mixed methods research design, a sample size of 156 respondents, 15 in-depth interviewees and 12 key informants was selected purposely from three FBOs and three National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) State Command Areas in Nigeria. Data were collected using questionnaire survey, interviews, observation and document review, and then analyzed using descriptive and content analyses.

Findings

Findings showed nine different noncore social reintegration programs for recovering drug-addicts with different required rates of participation and diverse purposes. Also, the results showed that the three-pillar social needs of recovering drug addicts for successful reintegration into the society were not provided for by the FBOs. Finally, findings showed that majority of the respondents were only slightly satisfied with the overall services rendered at the selected FBOs, and these services were not properly monitored by relevant government agency.

Social implications

Appropriate regulations that will check and balance the activities of treatment providers involved in social reintegration is recommended to achieve optimal level of physical, psychological and social health for recovering drug addicts.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge ,this is a pioneer study that investigated faith-based social reintegration programs for recovering drug addicts in Nigeria.

Details

Therapeutic Communities: The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities, vol. 43 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0964-1866

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 March 2010

Jan A. Golembiewski

This paper aims to look into the significance of architectural design in psychiatric care facilities. There is a strong correlation between perceptual dysfunction and psychiatric…

2374

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to look into the significance of architectural design in psychiatric care facilities. There is a strong correlation between perceptual dysfunction and psychiatric illness, and also between the patient and his environment. As such, even minor design choices can be of great consequence in a psychiatric facility. It is of critical importance, therefore, that a psychiatric milieu is sympathetic and does not exacerbate the psychosis.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper analyses the architectural elements that may influence mental health, using an architectural extrapolation of Antonovsky's salutogenic theory, which states that better health results from a state of mind which has a fortified sense of coherence. According to the theory, a sense of coherence is fostered by a patient's ability to comprehend the environment (comprehensibility), to be effective in his actions (manageability) and to find meaning (meaningfullness).

Findings

Salutogenic theory can be extrapolated in an architectural context to inform design choices when designing for a stress‐sensitive client base.

Research limitations/implications

In the paper an architectural extrapolation of salutogenic theory is presented as a practical method for making design decisions (in praxis) when evidence is not available. As demonstrated, the results appear to reflect what evidence is available, but real evidence is always desirable over rationalist speculation. The method suggested here cannot prove the efficacy or appropriateness of design decisions and is not intended to do so.

Practical implications

The design of mental health facilities has long been dominated by unsubstantiated policy and normative opinions that do not always serve the client population. This method establishes a practical theoretical model for generating architectural design guidelines for mental health facilities.

Originality/value

The paper will prove to be helpful in several ways. First, salutogenic theory is a useful framework for improving health outcomes, but in the past the theory has never been applied in a methodological way. Second, there have been few insights into how the architecture itself can improve the functionality of a mental health facility other than improve the secondary functions of hospital services.

Details

Facilities, vol. 28 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-2772

Keywords

1 – 10 of 201