Comfort

From doing readings I found that there are two different types of comfort mental and physical. mental is where you are comfortable with the sorundings mentally, you feel  reassured and safe, it plays off your memories, trust and relationships. This type of comfort takes a long time to create and is studied a lot with nurse where they try to create an environment for a patient to feel comfortable. while physical is where for feel comfortable from and physical product or service this type of comfort is taken for granted as people only feel comfortable after discomfort and this comfort is only temporary and last a short amount of time, I feel that it only last the length of the kinetic movement such as rubbing a soft surface, once you have stopped rubbing it and just leave you hand on the surface you no longer feel the comfortable sensation, this style of comfort is used in industrial design, such as chair making where you are not trying to create comfort but prevent discomfort.

I feel that the main difference between these two types of comfort is time as mental comfort takes a long time to create a comfortable environment I feel would take a few days to create the mentally comfortable environment while physical comfort only lasts a few seconds as when you stop moving/smelling/listening you lose the focus on comfort and will then only consider comfort again when the the action or product is deemed uncomfortable. the factor of time then becomes a big issue of making my experiment as you have to get the time just right to try to create mental and physical comfort.


Physical Comfort:

Vink, P. (2005). Comfort and design: Principles and good practice. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

To get a better under standing on physical comfort I read a book by Peter Vink- Comfort and Design.
it book when into great detail on the principles to create a comfortable chair and environment. Vink described comfort as 'freedom from pain; well being', there is at least three problems face us in striving for comfort; 1. the exact cause of discomfort or comfort is unknown, there is no model available that describes the cause of comfort. 2. every individual has his or her own meaning of comfort. comfort is a subjective phenomenon. 3. the comfort design process is not described and the approach is unknown." and 'the product its self can never be comfortable; it becomes comfortable (or not) in its use." This then shows that it is difficult to create an environment or product that is deemed comfortable to ever user. Vink looked into a study by Slater (1985) who "defines comfort as a pleasant state of physiological, psychological and physical harmony between a human being and his or her environment "this shows that for product and physical comfort we also have to factor in the mental aspects of comfort it was also stated "the history of our comfort experiences determines our expectations of a product based on what we are used to" (looze et al. 2003 (comfort and design) which relates back to the physiological aspects of comfort and how it relates back to memory. Vink also described that there was three manifestations when considering making comfort;
"Discomfort- the participant experiences discomfort because of physical disturbances in the environment.
No discomfort- the participant is not aware of discomfort or comfort or there is no discomfort.
Comfort- the participant experiences noticeably more comfort than expected and feels comfortable."
when trying to consider where the user would lie with the different manifestations when using the product Looze et al. (2003) created a model to show the different factors that can action on resulting in the different manifestations;

it described that you not only had to physically feel comfortable but other factors acted on it such as temperature, humidity, noise, state of the person, history and smell, it was reported that even though we are mostly not aware of the effect that smell has on us with comfort it actually influences our experiences. 

The book went into detail on the comfort and discomfort specific to seating and how people experienced comfort in their seats, studies where found that the absence of discomfort did not result in comfort. it showed that discomfort was associated with pain and if that was taken away then nothing was experienced, while comfort is retaliated to the sense of well-being and the pleaser the chair gives; 

discomfort highlights more physical aspects, such as pain, ache, hurting while comfort shows more of the mental aspects happy, relaxed safe, calm and restful.

Vinks Theory on comfort changed my views on Physical Comfort, even though I know it is hard to create a physical object that is deemed comfortable in the sense of touch as comfort is a Subjective experience I can try to create an experience that could create an experience that results in safety, restfulness, happiness and being relaxed with a physical object it will result in the objects making a comfortable experience. 


Physiological comfort:
 I found that it is very difficult trying to find information on psychological comfort that can be related to design. I found that there is research that has been done with in nurses to help create a comforting environment for their patients, I felt that this could help to relate to the design world. it was described that comfort is the overall role that nurses have to focus on and to achive this they have to first identify patients’ perceptions of their needs (Orlando, 1961). it is also the process to developing a close relationship with the patient which can result in healing and growth (hall, 1964). 

I found a study buy Elizabeth Tutton who looked it to the relationship between elderly people and their nurses in a ward and try to make it more comfortable for them. (Tutton, E., & Seers, K. (2004). Comfort on a ward for older people. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 46(4), 380-389. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2004.03005.x)  As a whole didnt relate on what I was trying to find out about physiological comfort but it give some good insight on how nurse perceive comfort and how they create comfort for their patients, The study showed that comfort was an individual process in which every one is different, and staff find out the patients wants and wishes and tries to fulfill them. it was found that the patients felt more comfortable when the nurses had more positive attributes such as; kindness, gentleness, goodness and friendliness. if was found that comfort was also created when the nurse know the patient, their background, likes and dislikes and simple facts about them, this was because knowing the person created a sense of normality and community. The environment provided is also deemed as an important factor in creating comfort, as the patients are in the ward for a long period of time they have to create a space which is welcoming and personal, we the patient can have their own space. comfort is also created in every day activities such as helping to wash someones hair or cutting their nails, also helping assist them in knowing what is happening like providing a mirror so they can see their injuries heal.
this studied show the long term ways to create a comfortable environment and playing on the physiological aspects on comfort, even though I don't have the time to lean the background to the tutors and find out their likes and dislikes and base this experience over the space of a few weeks caring for them and providing their wants and wishes, I could use some of the concepts of what nurses use to create comfort an make a lot shorter experience.