The impact of trauma-informed design on psychological well-being in homeless shelters.

Trauma-informed design is an emerging concept that combines elements of interior design, environmental psychology, and clinical psychology. Previous reports describe the potential impact of the physical space and design of homeless shelters on positive psychological outcomes (Pable, 2012). However, there is little known research on these outcomes. This article provides preliminary support for positive outcomes through a program evaluation of a trauma-informed design of resident bedrooms at two homeless shelters in North Carolina. Residents (n = 61) were asked to take a presurvey (before room design) and postsurvey (after design) that assessed their experiences of preparedness, hopefulness, and safety. Among those who completed both pre and postsurveys (n = 43), there was a statistically significant improvement in all three factors following the design, with the largest effect sizes for safety and total score average. Additionally, qualitative findings indicate participants felt the design updates increased their experiences of dignity (n = 17) and safety (n = 13), with some indicating increased feelings of hope (n = 4). We discuss implications for other homeless shelters, as well as similar institutions that support people in transitional housing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Fathers' behavior during their child's ambulatory surgery.

This study is a secondary analysis of data previously collected to examine the effects of preoperative parental teaching in ambulatory pediatric surgery. The authors used a descriptive comparative design to re-examine and differentiate mothers' and fathers' behaviors during their child's ambulatory surgery experience. Parental behaviors of 142 families during the hour following their child's return from surgery were captured on videotape and scored by two nurses using the Parental Behaviors Inventory. The final sample was comprised of 78 fathers and 131 mothers. Fathers and mothers demonstrated similar types of behaviors, mostly behaviors such as showing affection and giving some physical care. Fathers were less present at the bedside than mothers and demonstrated quantifiably less helping behaviors than mothers. The results of this analysis illustrated that fathers demonstrate helping behaviors at the hospital and that these behaviors can be encouraged and supported by hospital staff. Additional research is needed with larger samples and with different ethnicities that investigates fathers' roles in this and other healthcare settings and that will lead to programs aimed at building fathers' competencies in their child's health care.