Seating in Doctors’ Waiting Rooms: Has COVID-19 Changed Our Choices?

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates preference for five different seating arrangements (e.g., rows, clusters) in a doctor’s office waiting room, whether these reduce stress and improve judgments of medical care, and how such choices may have changed over the pandemic (2013 vs. 2021). Background: What is called the doctor’s office layout, with chairs lining the perimeter of the waiting room, is criticized by designers, yet little empirical evidence exists to support that assessment. Method: Data collected in 2013 and 2021 used sketches of five different seating arrangements; people saw just one of these. The study examined the effect of time and seating arrangement on anxiety, need for privacy, situational awareness, evaluation of the environment, and perception of the doctor. Results: There was no significant impact of the seating arrangement on any of the dependent variables, but ratings were higher for situational awareness, need for privacy, evaluation of the environment, and aspects related to the physician in 2021. In addition, seating preferences favored end, not middle seats, and chair selections with the chair back to a wall. Conclusion: In this study, no evidence exists that the doctor’s office layout is less preferred than four other seating arrangements, but seat choice shows people prefer end seats (not middle seats) across arrangements. The doctor’s office layout may offer a supportive familiarity to people; also, given the percentage of people who visit the doctor unaccompanied, layouts designed to encourage social interaction may not always be appropriate.

Designing Worthy Waiting Spaces: A Cross-Cultural Study of Waiting Room Features and Their Impact on Women’s Affective States

“…The analysis of image reactions revealed that all groups expressed a preference for sociopetal seating arrangements, neutral color schemes, and multiple sources of positive distraction, in turn, suggesting that a range of attentional focus strategies may be used when waiting. Additionally, sociopetal furniture arrangements, which promote social interaction, may offer patients perceived emotional benefits (Andrade & Devlin, 2015; Reeve, 2018), even if they prefer not to actively participate in conversation (Devlin, 2022). Findings also lend support to Tanner’s (2002) assertion that inflexible chair arrangements may levy negative effects on patients’ emotional states, possibly because such environments lack opportunities for modulation.…”

“…To address these tensions, waiting rooms can foster feelings of intentional inclusion (Jacobs, 2016) and social support (Andrade & Devlin, 2015;Dilani, 2009;Zhu et al, 2020) through furniture arrangements that encourage interpersonal communication (Holahan & Saegert, 1974;Ulrich, 1991), a concept known as sociopetality (Nasrallah & Pati, 2021). Still, some patients may prefer privacy (Devlin, 2022) Room scale. Patients' attentional focus can be impacted by room scale, with larger waiting rooms offering more visual stimuli.…”

“…Situational modification allows patients to regulate their emotions by modifying their environment, including healthcare settings, which can be facilitated by offering choices or perceived controls to confer degrees of autonomy (Devlin, 2022;Devlin et al, 2023;Liddicoat, 2020;Pearson & Wilson, 2012;Zhu et al, 2020). Attentional focus entails the redirection of one's attention away from negative cues (Reeve, 2018), which can be influenced in waiting environments by factors involving socialization opportunities (e.g., sociopetality), room scale, color saturation, and positive distractions.…”

“…To address these tensions, waiting rooms can foster feelings of intentional inclusion (Jacobs, 2016) and social support (Andrade & Devlin, 2015; Dilani, 2009; Zhu et al, 2020) through furniture arrangements that encourage interpersonal communication (Holahan & Saegert, 1974; Ulrich, 1991), a concept known as sociopetality (Nasrallah & Pati, 2021). Still, some patients may prefer privacy (Devlin, 2022) and the extent to which patients appreciate sociopetality as a component of regulating positive affect while waiting is unclear. RQ1a: To what extent does sociopetality in ambulatory waiting rooms influence perceptions of positive affect amongst female patients aged 18–35? RQ1b: To what extent do preferences for sociopetality in ambulatory waiting rooms differ among African American/Black, Hispanic/Latina, and White women aged 18–35? …”

Does Perceived Control Matter in the Outpatient Waiting Room?

“…Through experience, people learn what is socially acceptable to do while waiting (Waltz, 2017). Devlin (2022, p. 2) described the kinds of behaviors highlighted by Kearns et al (2020) in a waiting room:The gaze and proximity of others are of concern, and people feel trapped, constrained from moving about for fear of losing their place in the appointment queue. Patients further comment about not wanting to talk to anyone, not wanting to catch the gaze of anyone, simply to extricate themselves from the situation.Recent research has documented this gaze avoidance using eye-tracking technology (Horn et al, 2022).…”