Impact of natural spaces on mental health and satisfaction in work environments ; referenced to The Service Providers in Selected Health Care Institutions of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Productivity of a facility is defined by the efficiency of the workforce and outcome of the facility. The natural spaces and the Landscape establishment maintenance has not been prioritized in Health care institutions and the importance of those factors have not yet been identified. According to reports government constantly supports the development of health care services and technical facilities by providing a considerable amount annually. Even though the overcrowding and delays in the health care institutions cannot mitigate, functional way of increasing the facility productivity is improving the efficiency of the workforce. The hypothesis is that the healing environment based on natural element has effects on the workforce efficiency because of its impact on Mental Stability and Satisfaction. This study intends to identify workforce response to work experience through the evaluation of mental comfort and satisfaction levels of the service providers in the healing sector. Both Open ended and multiple choices, questionnaires were used as the assessment method. Lanka Hospitals, Nawala is selected as the case study due to the well-designed landscape spaces in the premises. The literature suggests that the nursing staff spend most of the time in the movement due to their duties; therefore, nursing staff was selected for gather data. Findings suggest that there is no significant impact from the natural elements in the interior spaces. Furthermore, the natural outside view from the break room and the floor lobby areas have been selected as the most favoured feature of the workplace. It is concluded that the outside view from the health care institutions has been impacted more with compared to the other natural elements like interior landscape elements. It is concluded that natural spaces and visual accessibility to the outside view is making a significant positive impact on the Mental health and Satisfaction in health care work environments.