Users' perceptions of bedroom privacy and personalization in long-term care facilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand whether the characteristics of users of long-term care (LTC) facility buildings affect their perceptions of the importance of environmental privacy and personalization of bedrooms. The building users in this study included managers of LTC facilities, residents living in LTC facilities for more than 3 months, and families visiting residents in LTC facilities. This study distributed questionnaires to the three groups of building users in order to understand their perceptions of the importance of "visual privacy," "conversational privacy," "placement of personal furniture," and "self-decoration of bedrooms" with respect to the indoor environments of LTC facilities. The results showed that number of beds, operation type, and institution type affected the privacy indicators and personalization of bedrooms and the age and marital status of residents affected their opinions of privacy. For the family members, age, marital status, and length of residence affected their perception of the importance of privacy and the personalization of institutions.