Public Art & Health

Hospital murals across four countries: a 2026 preprint

Research record PAH-031 · Finding, limitations, sources and publication relationships.

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· 2026 · Nigeria, Slovenia, United Kingdom, United States

Findings, methods and sources

Healthcare artCross-sectional mixed-methods studyPreprintMixed findingsIncludes null findings

Finding. HoME collected 525 responses through surveys, interviews and participatory photography. Surveys reported favourable patient associations and favourable staff associations in the UK and USA, with null staff findings in Nigeria and Slovenia.

Limitation. The source is a preprint. Correlations cannot show that murals caused improved wellbeing or that consultation explains differences between sites.

Sajnani N, Foster MW, Oshodi Y, et al. The Hospital Murals Evaluation: a mixed-methods evaluation of the impact of murals on patients, healthcare workers, and visitors. medRxiv. 2026. doi:10.64898/2026.04.09.26350479

Methods and verification

Verification level: Full text assessed

Structured summary

Population
Patients (adult psychiatric and paediatric), staff and visitors at four hospitals with established mural programmes in Nigeria, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States
Sample
525 responses: 229 patients, 245 staff, 49 visitors, 2 undisclosed; surveys 327, interviews 115, participatory photography 83
Exposure
Viewing existing hospital murals, as reported by participants
Comparator
None; correlational, cross-sectional design
Outcome measures
Mural Experience Survey (developed for the study) and validated scales for well-being, positive and negative emotions, social connection and workplace belonging
Timing
Single time point; data collected April–July 2025
Result
Moderate positive correlations for patients with positive emotions; for UK and US staff with well-being, positive emotions, social connection and workplace belonging; no significant correlations for staff in Nigeria and Slovenia; no correlation with negative emotions at any site
Uncertainty
Bonferroni-corrected correlations; modest site samples; varied recruitment and translated scales; possible recall bias; preprint not peer reviewed
Design
Mixed-methods cross-sectional evaluation, four countries (preprint)
Sample / scope
525 responses: 229 patients, 245 staff, 49 visitors, 2 undisclosed
Setting
Hospital public areas
Art form
Murals

Full preprint text (version posted 10 April 2026) read for sample, methods, results and limitations, 29 September 2026

Last full editorial audit: 2026-09-09 · Verification policy

Publications and overlap

No confirmed shared-publication match is recorded for this entry in Edition 4.11. Source-by-source and participant-level reconciliation is incomplete; this does not establish an independent study.

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This citation identifies the repository entry. To cite the research finding, use the original publication listed above.

Public Art & Health. Hospital murals across four countries: a 2026 preprint. Research record PAH-031. Edition 4.11, 29 September 2026. https://www.publicart.health/research/pah-031

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