Environmental quality, functional control, and social design as determinants of perceived comfort and psychological well-being among older residents in Chinese continuing care retirement communities

This study investigates how the design of environmental quality, functional control, and social design affects the psychological well-being of older people living in Chinese Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). The study uses concepts from environmental psychology and salutogenic design to suggest a mediation model in which perceived comfort is the link between spatial features and mental health outcomes. This study used structural equation modelling to investigate data from surveys of older people living in several CCRCs in eastern China. The results show that environmental quality greatly increases perceived comfort, and social design has a strong direct effect on both comfort and well-being. But perceived comfort didn't have a big effect on the link between design factors and psychological well-being. These results show how important social spatial design and environmental sensory quality are for the emotional lives of older residents. They also suggest that comfort alone may not be enough to improve mental health in institutional settings. The study has real-world effects on evidence-based design, policy, and future aging-in-place strategies in China.