Architectural design to improve Indigenous health outcomes (2016-2022)

Many Indigenous people fail to present for health care until chronically ill, due to fear or dislike of health services and their settings. Across a range of building scales, this research aims to understand how design in healthcare architecture (clinics, hospitals) affects Indigenous peoples use and perceptions of these environments (waiting rooms, wards etc) to facilitate their well-being and their consequent motivation to access health care services. Developing innovative and adaptable research methods, the project seeks the necessary architectural design changes, which are needed for health settings to facilitate access for Indigenous people, contributing towards closing the untenable national Indigenous health gap.