National Preventive Mechanism individual care for children and adolescents. A special unit for individual care was set up for this purpose. However, it must be generally observed that there are insufficient care places available for severely traumatised adolescents with high potential for aggression. This often results in the affected persons being admitted alternately to a psychiatric ward in different follow-up care facilities. The expansion of relevant extramural facilities throughout Austria is thus still urgently required in order to improve the necessary intensive care of persons with a distinct psychiatric illness. Substantial personnel resources have to be made available to this end. XX The intensive care of severely traumatised adolescents with high violence potential requires specialised institutions with substantial personnel resources and flexible, individually tuneable socio-educational concepts. 5.2.10 Spatial redesign of the psychiatric wards in Mauer Regional Hospital Positive interaction of architecture and well-being Numerous studies but also observations made during visits by the commissions substantiate that the architecture of health care institutions and facilities also plays a critical role in the recovery process and has an effect on preventing or promoting violence. Living conditions marked by high density and confinement have harmful effects on physiological processes (prolonged duration to functional defects) as well as affective (e.g. negative subjective mental state), cognitive (e.g. performance deficits) and social processes (e.g. social withdrawal). The feeling of helplessness and resultant assumption of a passive role by the patients in the institutional environment should be avoided at all costs. This can be achieved by relevant design of the environment, for example through the active involvement of patients in designing (e.g. furnishing) or through ensuring basic conditions (e.g. sunlight, room temperature, lighting etc.). Guaranteeing a private sphere and an appreciative manner are also the condition for successful therapy, as they form the basis for the patients’ trust in the institution and its treatment methods. Last but not least, adequate architecture and an environment that supports therapy also improve the quality of work and the resilience of the personnel in all areas. Outdated architectural structures in Mauer Regional Hospital 136 However, when visiting the psychiatric wards in Mauer Regional Hospital, Commission 6 observed that the architectural conditions are far from meeting the standards of modern psychiatric care.

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