Who wants control in the hospital room? Environmental control, desirability of control and stress

Abstract

Perceived control is a desirable quality in the healthcare environment to increase patients’ well-being. However, recent research has demonstrated that perceived control did not predict stress. Based on the hypothesis that control does not always lead to better adjustment, and that it may depend on whether people want to have control, the aim of the current research was to examine the moderating role of individual differences in terms of desire for control. In an experiment, 150 participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. First we measured desirability of control; next we presented a scenario of a hypothetical hospitalization. Perceived control was manipulated by the stated presence or absence of an integrated remote device that allows adjustment of environmental features in the room. Results showed that having control over the room positively predicts stress reduction among people with high desirability for control, whereas among people with low desirability for control this relationship was not significant.