Study protocol published

Study protocol published

This PLOS ONE paper is a study protocol (published 15 January 2026) for a convergent parallel mixed-methods study examining how the physical environment of psychiatric hospital wards relates to psychiatric nurses’ stress, wellbeing, and professional interactions.

The study is set in the 2nd Department of Psychiatry at Klinik Hietzing (Vienna, Austria) (four units) and plans an in-depth dataset for a target sample of 20 nurses. It combines: (1) quantitative measures, including wearable sensing for heart rate variability (HRV) (e.g., Polar H10) plus light dosimetry and physical activity, alongside surveys such as the NASA Task Load Index and structured in-person observations of interactions; and (2) qualitative semi-structured interviews exploring nurses’ perceptions of the environment and stress. Physical environmental characteristics (e.g., room features and conditions like lighting and sound) are also documented to enable links between spatial features and outcomes.

A key contribution is methodological: we aim to provide a scalable, reproducible, low-disruption approach that can be applied in sensitive psychiatric settings while protecting patient privacy, and that can help identify environmental features (e.g., layout/lighting/acoustics) associated with stress and interaction patterns, informing future design and improvement of psychiatric workplaces.

The protocol was developed by Milica Vujovic, Maja Kevdzija, Friedrich Neuhauser and Matthäus Fellinger, an interdisciplinary team spanning TU Wien and the 2nd Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Klinik Hietzing and Karl Landsteiner Institute for Mental Health.

The full open-access protocol can be found here.