healing environments in radiotherapy - Agnes van den Berg

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Healing Environments in Radiotherapy Project Report PURPLE Comforts, spiritualizes, creates mystery, and draws out intuition. For clarity of thought, worldly ambitions, healing. GREEN Balances, normalizes, refreshes, encourages emotional growth. For health, luck, nurturing, growth, prosperity. BLUE Relaxes, cools, produces tranquil feelings and peaceful moods. TEAL Tranquil feelings and balances. YELLOW Cheers your spirit, increases energy. For confidence, joy, intellect. ORANGE Encouragement, stimulation, adaptability, courage, stimulates appetite and conversation. RED Empowers, stimulates, dramatizes, and symbolizes passion. For strength, health, protection, energy. PINK Communication, relaxation, healing of spirit, success, compassion, honour. Figure 29: Chart of ‘Healing Colours’ used at Parrish Medical Center 36
Healing Environments in Radiotherapy Project Report 2.3 Social and psychological factors Besides physical factors of the healthcare settings, social and psychological factors also play an important role in healing environments. Below, a review of current literature is provided, identifying a range of relevant non-physical factors in healing environments. However, it has to be noted that many (though not all) accounts seem to be based on the personal experience of the authors rather than scientific research. Nevertheless, it is well established that social and psychological aspects significantly affect physical health and well-being, as evident in the increasing amount of scientific journals that specifically address this connection between sociology, psychology, and physiological health (for example Health, an interdisciplinary journal for the social study of health, illness and medicine; Social Science and Medicine; Journal of Health Psychology). Hence, the available research on social and psychological factors in healing environments deserves some attention in this discussion. Feeling in control People who are diagnosed with a serious disease can often feel out of control. Processes are happening in their body which they can do nothing about. “In a hospital environment, people are 100% dependent on the doctor or nurse; they even lose their identity and become a number on a file. This can be very threatening” (A. Kwint, Plants for People). In healing environments, it is therefore important to restore a certain sense of control. An important means of establishing this is to involve patients in decision making processes. This may concern decisions regarding the hospital where patients are being treated and the preferred treatment methods. Another way of giving patients more control is to offer lifestyle recommendations that encourage active engagement and a sense of taking control of one’s life, such as a change of diet or exercise (Block, Block & Gyllenhaal, 2004). The architectural plans for the Care Hotel for Lung Cancer Patients, for example, intend to provide a diversity of facilities that patients can choose to use, such as a restaurant, silence room, library, or spa (Tudor, 2008). Here, it is noteworthy that such facilities might attract additional expenditure, which can in turn be used to finance the implementation of a better healing environment. 37
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healing environments in radiotherapy - Agnes van den Berg

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