This study analysed the perceptions of dental
clinical attire among patients, dentists and dental
students at the Dental Hospital, Tokyo Medical and
Dental University using factor analysis to
investigate what kinds of factors would underlie
the perceptions and would guide evaluation of
wearing items of dentist. The subjects comprised
146 patients, 97 dentists, and 81 students of the
Dental Hospital. Using a five-point Likert scale, the
subjects were asked to score their preferences for
35 items that might be worn by a dentist in the
clinic. These scores were analysed using factor
analysis and seven factors were extracted. The
factors were classified into three categories; the
first was a traditional factor representing the
public self of dentists, next was casual factors
representing the private self of individual dentists,
and the other was practical factors. Using MANOVA
and univariate ANOVA, differences in perceptions
among the subjects were found for factors of
casual items while that for traditional items not
(P< 0.05). Thus, clinical attire would be evaluated
from the viewpoint of interplay between public self
and private self of the clinician as well as practical
aspects. The variation in perceptions would be
influenced by wearers’ gender and observers’ age.
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