Evidence-Based Design in Healthcare Interior Design Practice: A Study of Perceptions, Use, & Motivation

This study addresses the design strategy known as evidence-based design (EBD), and seeks to discover the current state of EBD use and perceptions of healthcare interior design practitioners in North America. The study also addresses the motivations of healthcare interior designers to use EBD, as motivations may lead to further understanding of EBD’s staying power as a strategy. Several emergent points of this nationwide survey of healthcare interior designers provide support for the findings of other EBD surveys administered to related populations. One finding suggests that most responding interior designers engage with EBD at an elementary level as determined by analysis using Hamilton’s levels of EBD use (2009). Another suggests that acceptable sources for evidence used to make design decisions vary, and some designers described that previous applied design practice experience (normative theory) is a valid source. Generally, results seem to confirm that EBD is likely in the early stages of making its mark on healthcare interior design. EBD has yet to reach widespread consensus in meaning and application, yet holds promise to provide enhanced validation to design processes.