The Interplay between Housing Environmental Attributes and Design Exposures and Psychoneuroimmunology Profile—An Exploratory Review and Analysis Paper in the Cancer Survivors’ Mental Health Morbidity Context

Eva Hernandez-Garcia, Evangelia Chrysikou and Anastasia Z. Kalea
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Eva Hernandez-Garcia: The Bartlett Real Estate Institute, The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Evangelia Chrysikou: The Bartlett Real Estate Institute, The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Anastasia Z. Kalea: Division of Medicine, University College London, London WC1E 6JF, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-32

Abstract: Adult cancer survivors have an increased prevalence of mental health comorbidities and other adverse late-effects interdependent with mental illness outcomes compared with the general population. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) heralds an era of renewed call for actions to identify sustainable modalities to facilitate the constructs of cancer survivorship care and health care delivery through physiological supportive domestic spaces. Building on the concept of therapeutic architecture, psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) indicators—with the central role in low-grade systemic inflammation—are associated with major psychiatric disorders and late effects of post-cancer treatment. Immune disturbances might mediate the effects of environmental determinants on behaviour and mental disorders. Whilst attention is paid to the non-objective measurements for examining the home environmental domains and mental health outcomes, little is gathered about the multidimensional effects on physiological responses. This exploratory review presents a first analysis of how addressing the PNI outcomes serves as a catalyst for therapeutic housing research. We argue the crucial component of housing in supporting the sustainable primary care and public health-based cancer survivorship care model, particularly in the psychopathology context. Ultimately, we illustrate a series of interventions aiming at how housing environmental attributes can trigger PNI profile changes and discuss the potential implications in the non-pharmacological treatment of cancer survivors and patients with mental morbidities.

Keywords: housing; psychoneuroimmunology; inflammation biomarkers; household environmental health; non-pharmacological interventions; therapeutic architecture; supportive domestic spaces; mental health comorbidities; cancer survivorship; design for wellbeing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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