Design to support people with schizophrenia: activating professional boundaries

Abstract

For people with schizophrenia, home environments that are readily understandable, easily managed, provide opportunities for self-expression and support psycho-social needs can enhance their wellbeing. Importantly, symptoms of schizophrenia (including agitation, anxiety, helplessness, perceptual distortion) can potentially be reduced through responsive accommodation design. The embedded potential of design of homes to offer support or create hindrances for people with schizophrenia has been poorly explored. Cues as to what things are and how to function in a space can be designed to provide support. This chapter records a multi-prong action research approach to develop a resource to assist designers and service providers create responsive residential environments for people with impeded cognitive functioning. Research from such fields as environmental psychology, sociology and design, together with discussions with people with schizophrenia, indicates that quality of life for people with schizophrenia can be enhanced through design. A key outcome is a Framework that enables the user to both understand the reason why a person with schizophrenia may respond to the environment in a particular way and how to design to acknowledge that potential response.