Patient Clothing as a Healing Environment: A Qualitative Interview Study

Patients' emotional responses to the hospital environment can be considered as important as medical technology and equipment. Therefore, this study investigated their experiences to determine whether the pattern using hospital identity (HI) elements, a widely used design method for patient clothing in university hospitals, can affect their emotional response and contribute to healing. It aimed to identify whether controlling the motif characteristics, arrangement, and spacing in this pattern design, and the direction between motifs, could be a method to design patient clothing for healing. To investigate patients' emotional response and suggestions for patient clothing design, an interview-based qualitative approach was used. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 patients discharged from Kyung Hee University Hospital Medical Center (KHUMC), Seoul. The interview questions consisted of two parts. One part featured questions about participants' emotional responses to the medical environment and their latest patient clothing experience, and the other featured questions about their emotional response to, and suggestions for, the healing expression of pattern design using HI. The results confirmed that the motif characteristics, arrangement, and spacing, and the direction between motifs, influenced patients' positive emotions and contributed to the healing effect. Therefore, when the HI elements of a medical institution are applied in the design of patient clothing with the characteristics of a healing design, patients perceive this as providing stability and comfort. The design of patient clothing becomes a medium that not only builds the brand image of medical institutions, but also enhances the quality of medical services centered on patient healing.