Design approach to challenging architectural facilities Perception of psychiatric treatment of adolescents in Poland and quality of hospital space from the perspective of potential patients

Specific Polish conditions of paediatric psychiatry and insufficient supply of medical services in view of social demand for paediatric psychiatric consultancy have motivated us to research the issue and to conduct an original qualitative study within the framework of an interdisciplinary approach. The issue has been presented from the point of view of an architectural design of space dedicated to mental treatment of adolescents. The purpose hereof was to analyse social perception of psychiatric treatment on the basis of surveys conducted on a sample of 300 respondents. Based and quantitative method and the survey, it was diagnosed the social perception of psychiatric treatment in Poland among young potential patients, taking into account the local context. The research was preceded with an in situ study in three randomly selected psychiatric hospitals in Poland in order to verify the quality of hospital space intended for therapy of patients and to identify the areas in which architecture might facilitate patients’ well-being and improve work organisation of the medical staff. This type of research studies is relatively rare, whereas social perception of the psychiatric treatment and quality of healing space plays an important role in prophylaxis, especially in view of a rising number of children and adolescents in need of psychiatric consultancy not only in Poland but also worldwide. The article presents the role of healing space as a vital part of mental treatment, in compliance with the assumptions of such concepts as: healing environment, patient-centred care, patient-centred design and co-design. Centres in Poland are irregularly distributed, waiting time for admission often exceeds several months. At the same time the specific nature of psychiatric treatment fails to be adequately reflected in functional designs of hospitals. They lack space dedicated to alternative forms of therapies, patient activities, including outdoor activities. Moreover, the research also shows that the quality of the built environment is directly correlated with therapy accessibility and social perception. This topic is also extremely important for adolescents globally and should be reviewed on regular basis via interdisciplinary research.