title: Health facilities humanisation: design guidelines supported by statistical evidence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Healthcare building humanisation is currently a widely debated issue and the development of patient centered and evidence based design is growing worldwide. Many international health organizations and researchers understand the importance of Patient Centred Design and leading architects incorporate it into the design process. In Italy this design approach is still at an early stage. The article refers to research commissioned by the Italian Health Ministry and carried out by R. Del Nord (Università degli Studi di Firenze) and G. Peretti (Politecnico di Torino) with their collaborators. The scope of the research was the definition of design guidelines for healthcare facilities humanisation.
  
  
  METHODS
  The methodology framework adopted is the well established need and performance approach in architectural design. The article deals with the results of statistical investigations for the definition and ranking of users' needs and the consistent expression of their requirements. The investigations were carried out with the cooperation of psychologists of the Università degli Studi di Torino and researchers of the Università degli Studi di Cagliari. The proposed evaluation system allows ranking of health facilities according to the level of humanisation achieved.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The statistical investigation evidence collected allowed the definition of humanisation design guidelines for health-care facilities and for the assessment of their specific level of humanisation.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Architettura e Design (DAD), Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bosia
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Architettura e Design (DAD), Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Marino
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Architettura e Design (DAD), Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Peretti
mesh_terms: D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005160:Facility Design and Construction / Q000592:standards*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000592:standards*; D006275:Health Facility Planning / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D011584:Psychology