Color pressure garments versus traditional beige pressure garments: perceptions from the public

Social acceptance of patients with burns may be affected by the color of the pressure garment they wear. The purpose of this study was to ask students (n = 712), health care providers (n = 354), and the public (n = 250) their perceptions of beige versus color pressure garments. It was assumed that beige pressure garments have negative connotations and that colored pressure garments have positive connotations. Data were collected from subjects after they viewed beige, pink, and blue pressure garments. Items on the instrument contained bipolar word pairs rated on a 5-point scale; a rating of 1 indicated positive feelings, and a rating of 5 indicated negative feelings. Cronbach's alpha reliability for the instrument was 0.85, indicating a high internal consistency among items. Paired t test indicated a significant difference between the subjects' perceptions of the beige garments versus their perceptions of the color garments (t = -44.82, p = 0.000) among all subjects (n = 1259). Results indicate that positive feelings toward color garments may lead to social acceptance of the patient with burns, which in turn could increase the patient's self-esteem.