Religious Wear (Uniforms) in Psychiatry

Abstract

Uniforms represent more than just a body cover. There could be symbols of status, power, authority, values, beliefs, identity, wealth representation, self-protection, health and safety, suppression of individuality and identification on one hand by the wearer. The observers may perceive uniforms differently based on their experiences, expectations, education, perceptual ability, conformity, status, power, self-confidence, and need for trust and communication without barrier or judgment. Forty five adult mentally ill patients (21 female and 24 male) were administered questionnaires with Linkert Scale regarding how approachable or off-putting they find casual and religious wear in social worker. Significantly more patients preferred casual wear to religious. Chi squared test equals 28.689 with p value of less than 0.0001 for four degrees of freedom.

Share and Cite:

Bright, H. (2014) Religious Wear (Uniforms) in Psychiatry. Open Journal of Psychiatry, 4, 104-112. doi: 10.4236/ojpsych.2014.42015.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Allan, C., Heffernan, C., Pallent, S. and Weaver, L. (1992) Uniforms: A Strange Custom? Nursing Times, 88, 51.
[2] Smith, D. (1990) Uniforms: Worn Out. Nursing Times, 86, 32-35.
[3] Lavender, A. (1987) The Effects of Nurses Changing from Uniforms to Everyday Clothes on a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Ward. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 60, 189-199.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8341.1987.tb02730.x
[4] Trauer, T. and Moss, A.V. (1980) Psychiatric Patients’ Opinions of Nurses Ceasing to Wear Uniform. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 5, 47-53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.1980.tb00209.x
[5] Rinn, R.C. (1976) Effects of Nursing Apparel upon Psychiatric Inpatients’ Behaviour. Perceptual & Motor Skills, 43, 939-945. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pms.1976.43.3.939
[6] Marcuse, D.J. (1967) The “Army” Incident: The Psychology of Uniforms and Their Abolition on Our Adolescent Ward. Psychiatry, 30, 350-375.
[7] Leff, H.S., Nydegger, R.V. and Buck, M. (1970) Effect of Nurses’ Mode of Dress on Behaviour of Psychiatric Patients Differing in Information-Processing Complexity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 34, 72-79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0028788
[8] Klein, R.H., Pillsbury, J., Bushey, M. and Snell, S. (1972) Psychiatric Staff: Uniforms or Street Clothes? Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 19-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1972.0175019002 1005
[9] Brown, J.S. and Goldstein, L.S. (1967) Nurse-Patient Interaction before and after the Substitution of Street Clothes for Uniforms. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 14, 32-43.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002076406801400104
[10] Stanko, E.A. (1998) Taking Stock What Do We Know about Violence? ESRC Violence Research Programme, Brunel University, Uxbridge.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.