Patients' experiences and use of a therapeutic garden: from a designer's perspective | Patients' experiences and use of a therapeutic garden: from a designer's perspective

The object of this study is to broaden our knowledge on how a therapeutic landscape is used and experienced by its patients. Data refer to qualitative, semi-structured and hour-long interviews with ten patients in a Swedish healing garden. All patients have stress-related diseases and are participants in a rehabilitation programme with nature-assisted therapy. A thematic analysis resulted in two main themes: “to escape, observe and get sensory stimulation” and “to achieve satisfaction, socialize and re-evaluate”, with two and three sub-themes respectively. To grasp both the experience and the use, the themes are described both as phenomena and in relation to where they occur. The experiences described and how they might be aspects of healing, as well as the need to include a perspective related to this process in the design of therapeutic settings, is elaborated on in the discussion. Aspects of results in the thematic analysis are discussed with relation to design and theories in environmental psychology and can be seen as a kind of evaluation of the design of the garden. Also discussed is how this information can be used to contribute to a more evaluation-based knowledge in the design of therapeutic settings.