Art in the Hospital: Its Impact on the Feelings and Emotional State of Patients Admitted to an Internal Medicine Unit

This descriptive pilot study aimed at assessing the impact of art contemplation on patients' adaptation to hospital confinement and the factors influencing this effect.Artistic photographs were hung on the walls of the ward. Two hundred and thirty-nine (239) consecutive non-bed-constrained patients who stayed in the ward for at least 3 days (original number enrolled in study were males/females: 148/96, age 19-89 years; 5 patients declined to fill out questionnaires) participated in the study.Patients compiled two questionnaires exploring physical, psychologic, and social/family well-being, relative/friend support, and ward functioning. The self-perceived effect of photographs on the hospitalization distress was assessed. Clinical conditions were evaluated with the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status.Ninety-seven (97) (40.6%) patients belonged to ECOG stage 0, 101 (42.3%) to stage 1, 37 (15.5%) to stage 2, and 4 (1.7%) to stage 3. Two hundred and thirty-nine patients (239) (92%) looked at and 232 (85.5%) repeatedly contemplated the photographs. For most patients (72%), photographs made their stay in the hospital more pleasant. The ECOG performance status and self-perceived anxiety were the only independent modulators of the probability to obtain a restorative effect from the photographs.Embellishing clinical spaces with photographs has a positive effect on the adaptation to hospitalization in most patients. This effect is influenced by the patients' clinical status and self-perceived anxiety.