Magnitude Matters: Art Image Size and Waiting Time Impact Perceived Quality of Care

Objective: The study fills a gap in the literature by examining the size of the art displayed and waiting time in an exam office on patients' judgments of the quality of care they are likely to receive. Background: A body of research shows that the content of art in healthcare settings has an impact on patients' well-being, yet no work has empirically systematically examined the size of the art displayed on perceived healthcare outcomes. Method: A fully crossed 4 x2 between-subjects experimental design examined the impact of exposure to images in an outpatient exam room that varied in the size of what was displayed (a landscape scene: small, medium, large, and control-blank wall) crossed by the time waiting for the physician (10 vs. 45 min). The Dependent Variables were the reported anxiety and various measures of satisfaction with the healthcare visit. Results: The size of the art had a significant effect on the majority of the dependent variables; specifically, the large image had a more positive impact than the other sizes; longer waits were also negatively evaluated by patients and affected anxiety and judgments of room spaciousness. Conclusions: Identifying the recommended content of art displayed is necessary but not sufficient; the size of the art in its context has the potential to impact a range of important perceptions related to healthcare. When the size does not match the available wall space (i.e., the canonical size was not utilized), a variety of ratings of the healthcare environment (including the practitioner) were negatively affected.