WAYFINDING BEHAVIORS IN A HEALTHCARE ENVIRONMENT: A CASE STUDY ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

The study aims to examine different movement behaviors between different age group, and gender patients; their familiarity levels in a healthcare environment during wayfinding ability.    Different wayfinding elements and methods are preferable due to the role of various cognitive mapping strategies, which are allocentric and egocentric. In order to analyze wayfinding preferences and abilities of users, questionnaire and sketch questions were asked to 80 participants in Aegean University polyclinics in Izmir, Turkey.  A key finding shows that males are more adaptable to allocentric wayfinding elements. Females are more convenient to egocentric elements. Furthermore, wayfinding ability is directly proportional to familiarity level.