Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T23:17:18.077Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A rose by any other name: psychiatric outpatients' views on dress and address

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Geraldine Swift ,
Mazly Zachariah  and
Patricia R Casey
Geraldine Swift
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Rawnsley Building, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL, England
Patricia R Casey
Affiliation:
Department of Adult Psychiatry, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives: The manner in which psychiatrists dress and how they address their patients and in turn are addressed, may impact upon the therapeutic relationship. We undertook a survey to assess patients' preferences regarding doctors' dress and forms of address.

Method: Patients attending four psychiatric clinics were asked to complete a questionnaire asking them to rate photographs of doctors dressed in varying levels of formality, presented in random order.

Results: One hundred and forty-five patients agreed to take part. Patients had a strong preference for their consultants to wear suits but were more ambivalent about NCHDs' attire. When asked to rate the photographs in terms of competence and ease in forming a trusting relationship, suits scored the highest ratings. When asked to rate for friendliness, smart attire scored slightly higher than suits. Of the patients 50% said that they wished to be called by their first name and 50% said that they did not have a preference. Very few patients preferred to be addressed by title but 95% said that they tended to call their doctor by title. Of the respondents 70% preferred to be called patients rather than clients or service users.

Conclusions: The patients in this survey preferred their doctors to dress formally and were comfortable with an asymmetrical form of address.

Keywords

AttitudeClothingTitlesPatientPsychiatrist.
Type
Brief Reports
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , December 2000 , pp. 132 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Gjerdingen, DK, Simpson, DE, Tims, SL. Patients' and physicians' attitudes regarding the physician's professional appearance. Arch Intern Med 1987; 147: 1209–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Bannerjee, AK. Does a doctor's dress-style really matter? Med J Aust 1988; 149: 168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Finlay, F, Jones, R. Doctors' dress. Br J Psychiatry 1997: 171: 188.Google Scholar
4.Barrett, TG. Booth, IW. Sartorial eloquence: does it exist in the paediatrician-patient relationship? BMJ 1994; 309: 1710–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.McKinstry, B, Wing, J. Putting on the style: what patients think of the way their doctor dress. Br J Gen Practice 1991; 41: 275–8.Google Scholar
6.Goslin, R, Standen, P. Doctors' dress. Br J Psychiatry 1997: 171; 188.Google Scholar
7.Dunn, JJ, Lee, TH. Percelay, JM, Fitz, JG, Goldman, L. Patient and house officer attitudes on physician attire and etiquette. JAMA 1987; 257: 65–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Gledhill, JA, Warner, JP, King, M. Br J Psychiatry 1997; 171: 228–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Rnjagopalan, M, Santilli, M, Powell, D, Murphy, M, O'Brien, M, Murphy, J. Mental health professionals' attire. Aust NZ J Psych 1998; 32: 880–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Tham, SW, Ford, TJ. Staff dress on acute psychiatric wards. J Mental Health 1995; 4: 297–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.King, LS. ‘Hey You’ and other forms of address. JAMA 1985; 254: 266–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Bradshaw, SL, Twemlow, S. Use of first and last names and milieu characteristics. Psych Hosp 1987; 18: 90–4.Google ScholarPubMed