Browsing by Subject "Interior design"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Emerging, Fall 2018, vol.13:no.1
    (University of Minnesota, College of Design, 2018) University of Minnesota, College of Design
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Finding A Way: Aids To Support Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
    (2017-05) WILLIAMS, JULIE
    Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder affecting around 1:68 children. Among other characteristics, children with ASD can be unduly sensitive to the elements in the environment, such as noise or light. Those affected have also described childhood difficulties finding their way around school. Despite the increasing numbers of children diagnosed with ASD, to date there has been little evidence-based research investigating how the environment affects them. The purpose of this exploratory experimental study was to determine whether wayfinding aids, (colored doors, colored shapes on the floor, and signage), applied in an elementary school corridor could help children with ASD find their way to a given destination with minimal assistance. This could improve their wayfinding skills and promote independence. Person-environment Fit Theory guided the research. This states that if a person is well-matched to their environment it can have a positive effect on them. A convenience sample of participants with ASD aged 8-11 (n=9) were randomly assigned to control or treatment groups. A study route was set up along part of the school corridor unfamiliar to participants. Each participant was given wayfinding instruction and shown the way to a destination before being asked to find the way on his/her own. Participants in the control group used existing cues in the environment. Participants in the treatment group used wayfinding aids applied along the route. A mixed methods approach to data collection included observation, behavioral mapping, and a post-study interview/questionnaire to find out what participants felt about their wayfinding experience and what they remembered about the route. The study found that all participants were able to find their way to the destination. This suggests that wayfinding could be used as an educational intervention to teach children with ASD how to find their way around school. Participants in the treatment group remembered more colors, shapes, and signs along the route compared to the control group. Some participants demonstrated a hypersensitivity to the environment, adversely affected by noise, light, and smell. Some participants demonstrated Weak Central Coherence, focusing on small details to help them find their way around rather than perceiving the larger environment. With further testing, it may be possible for clinicians who treat children with ASD to use wayfinding as a diagnostic tool to help them find out how children with ASD perceive their environment and what they are sensitive to in it. This is believed to be the first research study to test children with ASD in wayfinding. By documenting an evidence-based research process with children with ASD as participants, this study could act as a model for other designers and researchers to follow. It could also be replicated to determine whether the results are applicable to wayfinding in other school corridors, or other environments, used by children with ASD.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Impact of Ambient Scent Environment on Residents’ Wellness and Their Perception of Interior Environments in Long-Term Care Facilities
    (2019-05) Bae, Suyeon
    The elderly population is continuously growing, and the number of older adults living in an institutional setting has been steadily but slowly increased. Because of a higher chance of having psychological disorders among people living in institutional settings than people living in non-institutional settings, providing a supportive institutional setting to the residents is critical to enhance their wellness. The theory of supportive design suggests healthcare facilities can lower people’s stress levels via three conditions (i.e., perceived control, social support, and positive distractions). The present study builds on research on supportive design by investigating the impact of positive distractions and ambient scent environment intervention on nursing home residents' health and wellness. When considering ways to promote wellness, complementary and alternative medicine is another method that has promise. An ambient scent environment, especially, has been widely explored for its impact on people’s health status (e.g., physical and psychological health). Therefore, this study conducted a single-blind and placebo-randomized controlled study to investigate impacts of ambient scent environment, as a positive distraction, on residents’ depression levels and quality of sleep. The recruited residents (N=58) were randomly assigned into either the intervention group, which received a 1% dilution of lavender scent for two weeks nearby their bedside, or the placebo group, which received a non-scent for two weeks. Their depression levels were measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale, and their quality of sleep was measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index at baseline and follow-up, which was two-weeks from the baseline. In a post-experimental interview, the residents were also asked three things they liked and wanted to improve in the living environment. Based on the t-tests, both intervention and placebo groups had improvement on depression, and only the intervention group had improvement on quality of sleep. However, further regression analyses indicated the intervention had no measurable effect on either depression or quality of sleep. The responses from the open-ended questions support the theory of supportive design in that the residents reported appreciation of and desire for perceived control, social support, and positive distraction in their living environment. Regarding the effectiveness of ambient scent environment, more controlled studies with rigorous methodology and larger samples are needed to build on the findings.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Preferred Learning Styles Among Interior Design Students of Generation Z- How Do They Learn
    (2020-04) Albadi, Noorh
    The purpose of this study was to investigate the preferred learning styles among undergraduate interior design students of Generation Z. The Gregorc Style Delineator, a self-report instrument to determine learning style, was administered to 500 undergraduate interior design students enrolled in 14 Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) programs located across the United States. This wide range of data collection will help identify key demographic characteristics of the current interior design students in the United States. The findings indicated that interior design students have diverse learning styles. It is also particularly notable that a majority of the participants were bimodal 55% (n=258; 55%). The most common learning styles found among interior design students was the combination Concrete Random/Abstract Random second-most-common learning style was the unimodal Concrete Sequential. This study further investigated the relationship between the learning styles of interior design students and their gender identities. Interestingly the analysis did not find any dependent relationships between unimodal style and bimodal style however there was a marginally significant relationship between the participants’ AR/CR and CS dominant learning styles and their gender identities. Additionally, the study investigated the relationship between the learning styles of interior design students and their academic performance as measured by GPA, lecture and studio course grades. The findings provide relatively weak evidence of a link between learning styles and academic performance. Overall the results from this study can be used to help evaluate and design the best methods to facilitating instruction that supports students learning preferences and the appropriate types of technology to enhance learning outcomes.