Psychiatric Hospitals and the Ethics of Salutogenic Design: The Return of Moral Architecture?

Authors

Meghan Crnic, From Department of Family Medicine, Cooper University Health Care, Center for Humanism, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Camden, NJ (Dr. Crnic), Department of Psychiatry, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (Dr. Bi), Department of Psychiatry, George Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, DC (Dr. Candilis), Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania (Dr. Sisti).
Stephanie Bi
Philip J. Candilis
Dominic Sisti

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

7-1-2024

Journal

Harvard review of psychiatry

Volume

32

Issue

4

DOI

10.1097/HRP.0000000000000398

Abstract

Bioethicists have long been concerned with the mistreatment of institutionalized patients, including those suffering from mental illness. Despite this attention, the built environments of health care settings have largely escaped bioethical analysis. This is a striking oversight given that architects and social scientists agree that buildings reflect and reinforce prevailing social, cultural, and medical attitudes. Architectural choices are therefore ethical choices. We argue that mental health institutions are fertile sites for ethical analysis. Examining the ethics of architecture calls attention to the potential for hospitals to hinder autonomy. Additionally, such examination highlights the salutogenic possibilities of institutional design, that is to care, nurture, and enhance patient and provider well-being.

APA Citation

Crnic, Meghan; Bi, Stephanie; Candilis, Philip J.; and Sisti, Dominic, "Psychiatric Hospitals and the Ethics of Salutogenic Design: The Return of Moral Architecture?" (2024). GW Authored Works. Paper 5347.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/5347

Department

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences