Assessment of Environmental Factors Effective on Mental Health (Case study: 600-unit and 512-unit residential complexes in Mashhad)

The dominance of technology over human lifestyle affected the human health and quality of environment. Therefore, mental health problems, stress, and depression are currently considered as the leading causes of somatic disability and premature death.  An evolving body of scientific evidence demonstrates solid relations between housing and health. The public health community is developing, testing, and implementing effective interventions that yield health benefits through improved housing quality.  Due to the growth of social and environmental challenges, the stress-related diseases are increasing. Stressors that come from poor design of residential environments -crowding, noise, poor indoor air quality and light – can have a negative impact on human mental health. Evidence also increasingly suggests that people with access to quality green space are healthier. Being outside can promote mental well-being, relieve stress, overcome isolation, improve social cohesion and alleviate physical problems. So knowing how environment affects health can help mitigate the impacts of environmental stress and improve health. Since healthy environment is defined as one of the factors in human’s sustainable life and basic needs. Hence, in designing the housing environments, infrastructure planning has a significant role in recreating the environmental factors which have impacts on health. The aim of this study is to be prepared based on assessment of environmental factors effective on mental health and its results can be regarded as a solution for designing the healthy housing environments. GOLD BERG GHQ-12 questionnaire was used to assess mental health of the subjects in the residential complex. The instruments needed for investigation of the environment quality include three components: physical, social and natural environments. All the participants lived in two residential complexes which are called “600- unit” and “512- unit” in Mashhad. A 351-subject sample was surveyed. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyze the data, and SPSS16 and LISREL software were used to carry out the calculations and process the information. Findings of this study show that there is a relationship between qualities of human’s living environment (including physical, social and aspects of the environment) and mental health. Therefore, the quality of each residential complex can be measured by the variables related to mental health of the residents. Results of the study shows that, among all factors affecting the mental health, the physical component of the environment has the most dissatisfaction and the most negative impact on the health of the residence; and after that, social and environmental factors have the most impact on each residents’ health, respectively, in both residential complexes. Therefore, by improving the physical condition of housing environment, it can be used to improve the health of people living in residential complexes. In this regard, most efforts should be in order to maximize the amount of light (to control the height of the buildings), increasing green space and the right to organize, assign spaces for walking and observing the hierarchy summarize from the public to private. We can expect in such an environment, social relationships, and improved the quality of their environment to enhance biological inhabitants.