Background:
Recovery from stroke aims at regaining mobility through performing
activities. However, research studies on time use in rehabilitation
environments consistently show low activity levels of stroke patients
outside their scheduled therapies. It is not clear whether the
architectural layout of clinics is related to patients’ activity.
Objectives:
This study examined the nonscheduled (voluntary) activities of stroke
patients during an ordinary day in a rehabilitation clinic to
investigate whether and how the built environment contributes to stroke
patients‘ independent activities.
Methods: Patient
shadowing was used in seven neurological rehabilitation clinics. Ten
patients were observed per clinic (n = 70), each patient for 12
consecutive hours (total 840 hours). Their paths, activities, locations
and traveled distances were recorded in relation to the clinics’
layouts.
Results: Patients spent around 50% of the
observed time in their rooms. The frequency of nonscheduled activity was
low in all participating clinics (Mdn = 21,2%, IQR 6,5%–21%) compared
to the scheduled activity. The median length of the nonscheduled paths
for all patients was 43,42 m (average 46,97 m), with significantly
longer scheduled paths (average 89,11 m, Mdn = 77,06 m, Mann-Whitney U
= 536, n1 = 762, n2 = 225, p < .001, two-tailed). Corridors
and seating areas in the corridors were the most frequent destinations
of patients’ nonscheduled paths. The clinic with the most frequent
nonscheduled activity had a distinctive spatial distribution of dining
and living spaces.
Conclusions: There is a need to change
the architectural layout of rehabilitation clinics to better support
patients’ nonscheduled activity.
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