Children's responses to nursing attire.

Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate how nursing attire affects children. METHOD: One hundred children ages 3, 4, and 5 years were interviewed. Fifty of the children had previously been hospitalized and 50 had no hospital experience. Five color photographs of a nurse representing five different uniform styles were shown to each child. The children were asked to select a photograph in response to questions. RESULTS: Fifty-eight percent of the children preferred the smock top. The traditional white uniform was considered frightening by 41% of the children. Chi Square analysis finds the differences in selection of uniforms to be significant at the .001 level. CONCLUSIONS: The children preferred and were least frightened by the colorful smock top uniform style. The least preferred and most frightful attire was the traditional dress uniform.