TITLE:
Religious Wear (Uniforms) in Psychiatry
AUTHORS:
Helen Bright
KEYWORDS:
Religious, Uniform, Wear, Workwear, Clothes, Psychiatry, Mental Health, Judiciary; Military, Police, Clergy, Nuns, Politicians
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Psychiatry,
Vol.4 No.2,
April
15,
2014
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.