Still important to dress for success

Journal of the American Chiropractic Association, May 1999 by Molloy, John

A female chiropractor who wrote to John Molloy was having a conflict with her family. She wanted to dress casually at work. She stated that she would not wear T-shirts or jerseys but that she believed a person in a holistic field has greater freedom of choice in clothing than those who take up traditional medicine. She also mentioned that an MD friend of hers often wears "colored stretch pants and colorful jerseys." Since her family kept pushing her to dress more conservatively, she wondered if she needed to listen and switch to suits with pantyhose-not plain cotton shirts with cotton pants.

Molloy approached the problem in a systematic, no-nonsense manner. He had pictures taken of men and women in a number of different outfits. These included "a white doctor's jacket outfit, a less formal white medical outfit, a colorful medical outfit, a suit, a sports jacket outfit, and three casual outfits."

Then, the researchers asked random members of the public to identify the people in the pictures. Were they chiropractors or members of the medical profession? Would participants go to or advise friends or family to go to the person in each photo for treatment? Why or why not?

In the end, Molloy broke the participants into three focus groups to talk in greater detail about their answers. Most said they would go to MDs, and that they trusted them to prescribe treatment. This trust remained even when the people in the pictures wore any kind of medical outfit.

Doctors over the age of 40 were trusted, except if they wore odd or unprofessional clothing. Male doctors could wear casual outfits, as long as they were "conservative and traditional."

Female doctors, however, had to work harder to gain trust. Few of the participants said they would not go to a woman doctor in a casual outfit, but a number of them stated that such a woman would not be their first choice.

When pictures of people in colorful outfits were shown, only one group felt drawn to them-children. Elderly patients were particularly offended at colorful attire, and that held true even if a woman wore a white doctor's jacket-with brightly colored stretch pants underneath. Most of the participants said they would not allow such a woman to treat them. Molloy says that while MDs have the freedom to dress a lot more casually than was the case only a few years ago "without losing their professional image," chiropractors are not in the same boat. The article ends with, "Almost half the public will not trust you unless you wear an outfit that clearly identifies you as a medical professional. You are far more likely to be successful if you wear a traditional white doctor's jacket or shirt with conservative fully cut slacks."

John Molloy, a syndicated columnist whose work appears in the Portland Press Herald, approached a chiropractor's question about appropirate office attire with remarkable thoroughness. Dr. Bob Lynch forwarded JACA a copy of the article, and we felt the information was too valuable to pass up.