Patient perceptions and preferences of physicians’ attire in Saudi primary healthcare setting

Figures & data

Table 1. Percent of patients approving (strongly agreeing & agreeing) to a particular type of physician dress.

Clothing type	% approving male physician dress	% approving female physician dress
White coat	83.3	77.7
Uniform	71.3	68
Modest	58.7	60.2
Expensive	9.3	9.7
Scrubs	59.8	57.6
Jeans	15.5	12
Suit	47.4
Thob & shumagh	46.8
Veil		62
Trousers		17.9
Skirt		62.5
Slippers	26.1	20.3
Sneakers	58.9	56
Sandals	28	36.4
Formal shoes	62.9
Low heel shoes		56.2
High heel shoes		7.7

Table 2. Relationship of demographic factors to importance (value) of physician’s dress.

Factor (% agreeing & strongly)	Chi Sq	p-value	OR	CI – OR
Female 74.6% vs male 88.8%	14.95	< 0.001	.37	.22-.62
Unmarried 73.9% vs married 85%	7.89	0.005	.5	.3-.81
Uneducated 71.3% vs educated 84.8%	9.84	0.002	.45	.27-.74
Non-working 76.2% vs working 87.5%	9.39	0.002	.46	.27-.76
Villager 60.7% vs City dweller 84.5%	18.34	< 0.001	.28	.15-.52

Table 3. Relationship of impact of dress to patient factors (n = 438).

#*	Factor	N	Mean Rank	Mann Whitney	p-value
	Importance of appearance
1	Agree	357	240.73	6879	<0.001
	Disagree	81	125.93
	Place of living
2	Urban	383	225.34	8297	0.011
	Rural	55	178.85

Table 4. Principle component analysis of male physician dress types.

	Component
Dress type	1 Professional Modest	2 Casual shoes	3 Modern expensive	4 Traditional formal
White coat	.791
Isotropic uniform	.821
Modest dress	.440
Surgical dress	.655
Jeans			.835
Expensive			.656	−.424
Western Suit				−.804
Traditional dress				−.563
Formal shoes				−.476
Slippers		−.851
Sneakers		−.554
Sandals		−.784
Eigen value	3.24	1.5	1.25	1.03
% Variance	27.04	12.5	10.42	8.55

Table 5. Principle component analysis of female physician dress types.

	Components
Dress type	1 Professional modest	2 Modern expensive	3 Casual shoes	4 Traditional formal
White coat	.753
Uniform	.785
Modest dress	.631
Surgical dress	.637
Expensive		.661
High heels		.643
Jeans		.726
Trousers		.481
Veil				.895
Skirt				.684
Low heels				.482
Slippers			−.831
Sneakers			−.442
Sandals			−.792
Eigen value	3.18	1.68	1.52	1.1
% Variance	22.7	12.03	10.86	7.8