• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.324-346
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• 1996

A survey was conducted to study attitudes of physician, nurse and patient towards physician's and nurse's uniform, from March 1 to March 31, 1996. The study population was 130 physicians and 147 nurses engaged in Yeungnam University Medical Center and 211 inpatients of Yeungnam University Medical Center. A questionnaire method was used to collect data. The following are summaries of findings: In the respect of physician's uniform, both physicians and nurses preferred other type of gown to the traditional coat-typed one and especially, nurses preferred more than physicians. Patients showed no difference in the preference of the traditional one and other form of gown as a whole but those who had higher educational level preferred other form of gown(p<0.01). Regarding the color of physician's gown, 73.6% of physicians and nurses liked white color, and 86.3% of the patients also liked the white color. Male physicians preferred the white color more than female physicians and nurses(p<0.01). Patients showed no meaningful difference for the color. The opinion of insisting on wearing a necktie when physician see patients was given by male physicians, physicians of fifty or more, physicians working in the field of medicine and professors, which showed significantly higher percentage than other groups(p<0.01). In the group of patiens， the same opinion was given by female, the group of sixty or more, the group of elementary school graduates or less and people residing in other cities and counties more than male, the group of other ages, the group of having higher educational level and people of Taegu city(p<0.01). It tended to agree wearing casual wear of physician during the working time of weekend and holiday as a whole. Younger physicians showed significantly higher preference for it(p<0.05). Regarding the nurse's uniform, both physicians and nurses preferred trousers, and 96% of the nurses did. Especially, nurses who were forty years old or more and who served at outpatient department and administrative and aid parts expressed 100 percent partiality to trousers. For the patients, those who had lower educational level preferred skirt and those who had higher educational level preferred trousers. As to the color of nurse's gown, 46.7% of the physicians and nurses liked white color. The physicians preferred white and nurses preferred other color(p<0.01). Of the patients, 79.1% liked white color. Regarding the wearing cap, 95.9% of the nurses replied it didn't have to wear the cap. The nurses who were fifty or more and who served at outpatient department and special parts gave whole answers of not having to wear the cap. On the other hand, 77.7% of the patients answered nurse had to wear the cap. From the above findings, it would be advisable to give a change to the forms and colors of the gowns to match with the trend and sense of the time instead of insisting on the traditional typical ones.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1004-1014
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• 2006

The purposes of this study is to investigate the present condition of nurses' uniform design and to categorize the image of nurses' uniform design. To investigate the nurses' uniform design, total 241 data were collected from the pictures of nurses who work for private hospital and semi-general hospital in Deajeon and Seoul city and Chungnam province and the pictures of uniform for nurses in general hospital presented at nurses' uniform company web sites. This data was evaluated by 3 major garment characteristics, yin/yang, casual/professional, and lightness/ darkness-were used as criteria for categorizing the image of nurses' uniform design. Focus group consisting of 10 experts majored in Clothing and Textiles were evaluated by 7 point Likert type scales. Nurses' uniform design at the present time showed equal distribution in terms of yin/yang and casual/professional. However, in terms of lightness/darkness, nurses' uniform design were partial to light image. Therefore, dark image, specially dark and masculine image in nurses' uniform design were very rare. Nurses' uniform design had some differences by type of hospital, department, and geographical area. The most important meaning from the result through this study was that the nurse uniforms were classified into groups according to the present condition of nurses' uniform design.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.15-27
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• 2002

A uniform is generated in the course of confirming a singular mode of dress that is adopted by a community for a specific purpose. In particular, women's uniform has a close relations to their position in the community they belong to. And women's uniform has closely been associated with finding ways into their communities over the centuries, and is part of women's development process. Women's history of using organized uniforms has not been longer than men's. Their realm of activities began to be enlarged due to the World War, and women's uniform has gradually settled down and moved toward diversity. The origin of many uniforms worn by today's women can be traced back to the end of the last century, and this fact indicates that women started to find their ways into many new fields at that time. There has been a lot of changes until current women's uniforms come out. It's intended in this study to contribute to designing more creative and productive women's uniform, by taking a careful look at typical early uniforms for service personnels, nannies, nurses and soldiers that are an indication of their work and working environment.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.379-391
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of uniform's color and motif on nurse's impression formation. The experimental design was 5×3×2(uniform color×motif ×perceiver's gender) factorial design with a between-subjects design. The experimental materials developed for the study were a set of stimuli and a response scale. The subjects were 738 undergraduate students of Daejon and Chungnam province. The SPSS package was used for data analysis which includes factor analysis, two-way ANOVA, Duncan's multiple range test, and Cronbach's α to measure the reliability. Results were as follows; The image or the stimulus was consisted of the 4 different dimensions(evaluation, sociability, ability, potency). All the independent variables showed some significant impression effects on selected dimensions. The motif and perceiver's gender also showed significant main effects as well as some interaction effects with the color variable on some selected impression dimension and the impression effects of the three variables in relationship to perceiving nurses' images. On a conclusion, these results supported the Gestalt theory.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.455-472
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to serve as a basis for mapping out successful strategies to build the professional self-image of nurses through uniform, by examining their satisfaction with uniform and professional self-image by general characteristics, and identifying the correlational relationship between the two factors. The subjects in this study were 205 nurses who served in general departments of two university hospitals in Seoul. The departments where special uniform was required, including ICU, RR, OR and CSR, were excluded. The data were collected from September 15 through 22, 2000. For measurement of uniform satisfaction level, a uniform satisfaction scale was prepared by myself, and Arthur(1990)'s PSCNI translated and modified by Song Kyong Ae and Rho Chun Hee(1996) was employed. The Cronbach a of the uniform satisfaction scale and PSCNI was 0.90 and 0.86 respectively. The collected data were analyzed by SAS, and real number, percentage, average and standard deviation were calculated. Besides, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's r procedures were utilized, and Scheffe test was conducted as a posttest. The findings of this study were as below: 1. The uniform satisfaction of the nurses investigated was scored 2.52 on the basis of 4 points, which was on the medium level. By subarea, symbolicity satisfaction was 2.48, and aesthetic satisfaction was 2.60. The functionability satisfaction was 2.44. So the esthetic satisfaction was greatest. 2. Among general characteristics of the subjects, two factors made a significant difference to their uniform satisfaction : age(F=4.05, P=.0189), and total career(F=4.25, P=.0061). 3. Their professional self-image got 2.75 on the basis of 4 points, which was on upper middle level. The subarea score was 2.79 for professional work, 2.52 for satisfaction and 2.97 for communication. The communication area was rated highest, and the satisfaction area was scored lowest. 4. Among the general characteristics of the subjects, professional self-image was different according to five factors : age(F=17.83, P=.001), marital status(T=5.18, P=.0000), educational background(F=8.72, P=.0002), position(T=-5.29, P=.0000) and total career(F=15.23, p=.0001). Better professional self-image was possessed by the older group than the younger one, by the married group than the singles, by the better-educated group than the less-educated, by the nurses in position equal to or higher than charge nurse, or by the higher-career group. 5. The correlational relationship of uniform satisfaction to professional self-image was statistically significant, yet very weak(r=.1978, p=.0045). The satisfaction area of professional self-image was correlated to every uniform satisfaction area, including symbolicity(4=.4393, p=.0001), aesthetics(r=.2471, p=.0004), functionability(r=.3094, p=.0001) and total satisfaction(r=.4050, p=.0001). Therefore, the uniform satisfaction gave an impact on the satisfaction area of professional self-image of the nurses, and there was a significant correlational relationship between uniform symbolicity area and total professional self-image(r=.2416, p=.0005).

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.103-112
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• 2004

A Politician Appearance Acceptance Model (PAAM model) was formed and designed based on an analysis of how the electorate would accept a female politician. The PAAM model evaluated factors which influenced the voter's view of the female politician based on appearance. Causative factors were assessed that impacted acceptance based on appearance and analyzed whether voting was influenced by the appearance image; appearance image preferences for a female politician included the classic, dramatic, romantic and natural images. Through validations, the appearance image and competency had a causative factor that contributed to the acceptance of the politician image. The Classic Image demonstrated the strongest and most important image among the appearance images. As voters were more interested in the appearance image of a female politician, more emphasis and weight was on the appearance image during the voting selection process.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.59 no.10
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• pp.22-37
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• 2009

The main purpose of this research was to provide an example of a scientific and systematic approach to designing nurses' uniforms. Uniforms for the staff nurses and head nurses at Korea University Medical Centers were designed through the following four steps: research and analyses, design direction establishment, design presentation, and final decision. For the research and analyses, a focused group interview with 14 head nurses were conducted before the actual questionnaires were formed and distributed to 200 nurses at the medical centers. The data collected from 182 among 200 subjects were able to be used for the statistical analyses. As a result, the majority of nurses were not satisfied with the present nurse uniforms. They preferred pants to skirts, and straight pants to tapered pants. Blouses or jackets that slightly cover hips with sleeves reaching above the wrists were also preferred. Many respondents wanted uniforms that were practical and easy to manage. The ideal image of nursing uniforms were feminine, lively, active, light, cool, simple, and modern. According to the research and analyses result, design directions were established and uniform designs were presented to head nurses. Uniforms were designed based on symbols of Korea University and Korea University Medical Centers. Colors including white, pink, and grey were selected to represent the ideal image of nursing uniforms designated by the respondents. Fabrics including polyester(95%) and spandex(5%) blends, polyester(48%), rayon(48%), and spandex(4%) blends, and cotton(100%) were used for making garment samples. Final designs were decided by selecting and modifying the designs presented to the head nurses.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.631-648
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• 1993

This study is a descriptive study to provide basic data related to types of uniforms worn by nurses. Nurses, other medical center personnel, patients and their famillies were asked for their opinion on changing nurses’ uniforms and how the image of nurses is 1 elated to the type of uniform worn by the nurses. The data for this study were collected during the period from Feb. 25, 1993 to Mar. 26, 1993 at Y-University Medical Center from 132 nurses, 137 other medical center personnel, 117 patients and their families. The instruments used for this study were the Nurses’ Image Scale(NIS) developed by Bown(1986), and an instrument to measure opinions of uniform and cap using photographs of nurses’ uniforms that was developed by the researcher through a literture review. Data were analyzed using the SPPS / PC package, Statistics used for analysis were frequencies, percentages, paired t -test, and oneway ANOVA The results of this study are summarized as follows ; 1. Of the nurses, 84.3%, along with, 51.5% of the medical center personnel, 39.1% of the patients and their families agreed to a change in the color of nurses uniforms. 2. Similarly, 87.4% of the nurses,27.7% of the medical center personnel, 19.3% of the patients and their families were in favor of nurses not wearing caps. 3. Only 11.8% of nurses answered that a white uniform was important to the professional image of nursing. Only 2.4% of the nurses answered that a cap was very important to the professional image of nursing. 4. Only 1.6% of the nurses answered that a white uniform and cap were important to show the role of nurses in the twenty first century. 5. About 1/3, 36.5%, of the medical center personnel, the patient and their families answered that changing the color of the nurses' uniform will make a change in the image of nurses. 6. A White uniform and cap were seen as being im-portant in distinguishing nurses from other medical personnel in the hospital by 76.5% of the medical personnel, the patients and their families. 7. Nurses gave high marks to the idea of no cap regardless of the color of the uniform which would still portray the symbol of the nurses’ role, identity and would differentiate the role from other jobs. The patients and their families gave high marks to a white uniform with cap. 8. Generally, nurses, medical center personnel and patients and their families thought that a colored uniform with cap presented a good image of nurses. 9. There was a significant difference in the response among the three groups(F=24.65, P〈.001) to the figure in a white uniform with a cap, and the patients and their families thought it was the best portrayal of the image of nurses. There was a significant difference among the three groups(F=9.03, P〈.001) to the figure in a white uniform with no cap and the nurses indicated that it was the beat portrayed of the image of nurses. There was no significant difference among the three groups to the figure in a colored uniform with cap. There was a significant difference(F=17.50, P〈. 001) to the figure in a colored uniform with no cap, and the nurses indicated that it was the best portrayal of the image of nurses. In summary, the nurses wanted to change the color of uniform and not to wear a cap. But many of the medical center personnel, patients and their families indicated they did not agree with this idea. Therefore, changing the type of uniform worn by nurses should be done only after consideration has been given to the relation of the change to the professional role of nurses and the image of nurses held people in general. Suggestions arising from this study are as follows : 1. The relation between the role of nurses and their uniform was surveyed, and these results can be used as data when considering a change in uniforms. 2. A change in uniforms should be tried based on the norm established about uniforms. 3. The nurses did not want to wear a cap, but before a decision is definitely made it is necessary to study the philosophy related to the symbol of the cap because the figure of a nurse with a cap portrayed a positive image of the nurses. If the cap is kept, the symbol of the cap should be redefined. 4. In this study, only the image related to the uniform was examined, but in future studies it will be necessary to examine the practicality of various types of uniforms.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.77-83
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• 2009

The number of nurses per bed at acute-stage hospitals is quite low in Korea compared with other OECD countries. In order to prevent the degradation of the quality of inpatient nursing services due to insufficient nurse staffs, the national health insurance introduced the differentiated nursing care fee system. This did not work as a motive for inducing the employment of nursing staff due to insufficient cost compensation. Because of insufficient nursing staff, family members have to stay with the patient or patients have to hire a personal care attendant. This increases the burden and cost to families. For the activation of hospitals without guardians, there should be policies for raising additional nursing staff such as standardizing jobs among nursing staff, particularly between nurses and nursing assistants, setting adequate standards of staffing in nursing according to medical service, substantiating the cost of nursing under the differentiated nursing care fee system, improving the medical fee system of hospitals without guardians including health insurance payment, supplying nursing staff stably through improving their working conditions such as providing child rearing services and salary increase, clarifying the qualification of personal care attendants working at acute.stage hospitals, developing indexes for assessing the quality of nursing care services, and monitoring for the management of uniform quality.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.61 no.5
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• pp.139-146
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• 2011

In South Korea, hospital clothes for medical staff, which require high performance and functionality, are still regarded just as uniforms. Few researches have been made into the underwear for operating room staff, which is intended to protect medical staff against possible risks happening during an operation and allow them to do their job in an easy and comfortable manner. In order to present a new design of underwear for operating room staff at general hospitals in South Korea, an investigation was made into medical staff's preference for overseas brand samples, and it was found that they preferred to wear such clothes as are blue-colored, of a V-neck line, of a box style and has good absorptiveness and breathability. After developing the primary prototype and the conventional underwear for operating room staff at Hospital A, their appearances were evaluated, and it was found that the primary prototype was more favorably evaluated. After developing the secondary prototype, their preference for the colors and shapes was surveyed, and it was found that they preferred to wear No.6 blue colors and T/C materials. In conclusion, it is considered that a systematic research need be conducted into the designs of various hospital clothes, whose roles and functions are subdivided, including the underwear for operating room staff developed in this research.