Dr. Sarajane Eisen is a leading researcher on Evidence-based Art.  Recently I interviewed her by email:

What changes have you seen with the use of art in healthcare over the last ten years?
There is a heightened awareness of the need for art in hospitals. The word is out about the positive psychological benefits of art in healthcare environments.

What about the kind of art that is displayed? How has that changed?
Nature art is widely accepted as being the most appropriate for healthcare. However, despite all the research there are still those who debate abstract vs. nature art.

What other changes have you seen?
There is a greater  use of professional Art consultants to specify and provide art.

What is the key thing that research has revealed about art in healthcare in the last decade?
Research has revealed the important role art plays in contributing to a supportive environment, which in turn contributes to stress reduction and the healing process.
 
What are the key topics that you feel need to be addressed in the next decade?
Research of art in a variety of healthcare environments where little or no research has been conducted  For example psychiatric treatment/recovery centers like the VA hospitals.  They are undergoing major renovations with large amount of dollars being invested - yet there is not a single published research study
 
What mistakes do you see when people try to use evidence-based art to help with their art selection for hospitals?
People must be cognizant of the various factors factors affecting art selection, based on the EBD recommendations. 'One size does not fit all.'

Many factors play into the appropriate art selection: culture, gender, age, ethnicity. Individuals need to understand the guidelines that research has generated for art selection, but beyond that they need to understand that art images must be appropriately selected for specific healthcare space art images.  What works well in a lobby/reception area is not necessarily appropriate for a patient room or an MRI room.
 
Is there anything else you would like to say?
Research is an on-going, information-generating process, not conclusive.  We, as researchers in healthcare environments, are continually seeking new insights to better inform designers and decision-makers to assist them in making the very best design decisions that can positively impact both patients an their caregivers.  There is still so much that needs to be researched - some totally unaddressed and some areas more in-depth. Areas such as color and art, themes and art, special patient populations  and art. So it continues to be quite an exciting field of research and discovery.

Some of Dr. Eisen's articles on Evidence-based Design:

Eisen, S. L., Nanda, U., & Zanah, R.  (2010). Effect of art on patient anxiety in a psychiatric
holding unit and implications for the business case. The Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Leeds, England.
 
Eisen, S. L., & Parker, F. M. (2010).  Comparing centralized vs. centralized nursing unit design as a determinant of stress and job satisfaction, in review..
 
Eisen, S. (2010). Art in pediatric healthcare environments, book chapter contribution,
Design Details for Health, 2nd edition., Leibrock, C. & Harris D., authors, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, in publication.
 
Eisen, S..L., (2008).The healing effects of art: in pediatric healthcare, The Journal for Child HealthCare, London, England.
 
Nanda, U., Eisen, S. L., & Baladandayuthapani, V. (2008). Undertaking an art survey to compare patients vs. design student art preferences, Environment & Behavior, New York. 

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Dr. Eisin earned her  PhD from Texas A&M University and now works as Assistant professor at Txas Christian University. She serves on the board of AAHID and is EDAC certified.

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Dr. Upali Nanda lets her hair down in a new opinion piece for Research Design Connections

As the leading researcher on Evidence-based Art she must hear complaints that she is promoting mediocrity since her studies keep showing that nature images are the best. In this article she addresses her critics and reveals her own feelings.

“… I have had my own trouble coming to terms with this blanket acceptance of nature images.”

“The point is that there is a fundamental link to nature that nothing man made seems able to supersede, which takes on special significance when we consider the circumstances of a hospital admission.”

“… we can still intuitively say that we don’t want a facility with the very same image on every wall, no matter how therapeutic that image is proven to be. So, do we want the same “type” of image?”

“The purpose of research is not to curb creativity, but to shape it and direct it, which becomes difficult when the word Evidence is considered to be the Enemy of “A”rt.”

“Artists have often critiqued some of the most prominent studies stating that they do not use examples of high quality art and that they promote mediocrity in the art field.”

“Hospitals are not museums to educate or entertain ... Patients who are certainly “challenged” enough by their health do not to want to be challenged further. Loyalty in healthcare art is not towards the Artist, or the field of the Arts, but towards the patient.”

“Evidence, to date, tells us about content, not media, and media is an untapped resource to create variety in an art program.”

“It is imperative stop wasting time by challenging robust findings and studies and instead focus on doing research that can answer important questions in what the studies done before do not address.”

Her article is titled “Visual Art in Healthcare: Is the Jury Still Out?” To read it you need to be a subscriber to Research Design Connections. It only costs $99/year. To subscribe click here.

If you are not ready to subscribe you can email me and I will send you a PDF copy of the full article. My email address is henry@henrydomke.com

A mixed prospect and refuge landscape by Ellen Vincent, PhD

Why do people prefer one landscape over another? Our biology is better at explaining this than cultural or environmental theories according to Dr. Ellen Vincent.

Thinking of landscapes from a biological (or evolutionary) perspective, Jay Appleton distilled all landscapes into one of three categories:

Prospect - A Vista, typically a view from a high point.

Refuge - Shelter from the threatening weather, animals or people.

Hazard - Threatening weather, animals or people.

These are the categories that Dr. VIncent uses when she does her research at Clemson University to find the most therapeutic landscape images for people in pain in a hospital.

An article describing how she does her research can be found in Healthcare Designs's Art Corner in the January 2011 issue. To read the full article, click here.

Ellen Vincent, PhD, is an environmental landscape specialist at Clemson University's Department of Environmental Horticulture.

Art Installation by Spellman Brady at Boone Hospital Center. Art by Henry Domke

Western Art & Architecture has an article exploring they way that hospitals across America are tapping into art’s healing powers. Isabelle T. Walker writes:

Florence Nightingale knew art helped people heal long before modern science began delving into the matter. In her Notes on Nursing, she wrote: “Little as we know about the way in which we are affected by form, by color and light, we do know this, they have an actual physical effect. Variety of form and brilliance of color in the objects presented to patients are actual means of recovery.”

Nightingale would like what hospitals and doctors’ offices are doing with art today, placing it intentionally in rooms, treatment areas and hallways to support patients’ recovery; using it to calm visitors and as way-finding markers in big facilities.

To read the full article and see a slide show of art instalations, click here.