Analysis of behavioural patterns of children and their companions in a paediatric healthcare environment: searching the association between behaviour maps and space syntax

Abstract

The relationship between human psychology and space is studied through an ecological approach by Barker (1968) concerning that the harmony between human behaviours and physical and social attributes of space is dependent on the synomorphy of the place offering individuals a balanced amount of basic psychological needs of human beings; privacy and publicity. He puts forward the notions of ritual, display and surveillance as the dominating factors of space and develops the discourse called behaviour setting; stating that spaces have an impact on imposing individuals to behave in certain manners. Within this discourse, each space has a certain structure of behaviour setting so that individuals initially observe the behaviour patterns of others and later on follow the same social norms and behaviours when they first participate into a specific space. According to Barker, this kind of interaction of the individual with the environment has an effect on diminishing environmental stress arisen from the environment and enhancing adaptation of the individual. In this manner, this paper focuses on the correspondent interaction between physical and social attributes of paediatric healthcare spaces where children are treated. Although paediatric spaces are supposed to be designed through a holistic approach respecting children's physical, cognitive, social and psychological needs, these spaces are nonetheless stressful settings especially for inpatient children to get accustomed to various physical attributes together with social attributes that are decision makers on the patient's physical integrity. For that reason, during the child's treatment period, the accompaniment of a parent is a necessity within a paediatric healthcare environment for the well-being of children to ensure them to require physical and psychological support. Accordingly, children and their companions who have diverse physical and social needs, simultaneously share the spaces of the paediatric healthcare environment displaying certain kinds of behaviour patterns. The main aim of the article is to search for the relationship between various sociobehavioural patterns of two social groups (paediatric inpatients and their companions) and physical attributes of an existing paediatric healthcare environment through a methodology of behaviour maps and space syntax. Within the context of case study, behavioural frequency data of paediatric inpatients and companions is gathered, correlated by the syntactic values of the actual spatial structure and evaluated to search for any significant outcomes by regression analyses. The investigation is conducted by the participation of 30 children and 30 companions in a Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Service in Istanbul Cerrahpasa University.