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A new study has found patients forced to wear gowns feel more vulnerable and powerless in hospitals than those allowed to wear their normal clothes.
Researchers at the University of Auckland took 74 people and had half of them dress for a mock consultation wearing their own clothes, and the other half in flimsy hospital gowns.
Perhaps not surprisingly, members of the second cohort felt more "dehumanised" by the process.
University of Auckland professor of health psychology Dr Elizabeth Broadbent said it was the first time a randomised trial had proven what might have seemed obvious.
"They spoke fewer words than those in the group that were wearing their own clothes," she told RNZ's Midday Report.
"They felt less empowered to speak up. They felt less assertive, and they felt there was a power imbalance between the doctor and themselves because they were wearing the gown."
Several participants talked negatively about the gowns, despite not even being asked about them, using phrases like "asymmetry of power".
Broadbent said if it was not a necessity for a patient to wear a gown, they should not be made to wear one.
"I'm also quite interested in any designers out there who can think of any new, more acceptable type styles of gowns that can be designed that make people feel more dignified and their privacy is respected."
The paper was published in JAMA Network Open, and can be read online.
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