Evaluating the Hairstyle of Female Nurses by Healthcare Providers and Clerical Staffs in Hospitals

Abstract

In most occupations, paying attention to one’s appearance as a member of a given organization is essential. In the case of nurses, managing the appearance is hygienically critical. However, research indicating the variables that influence the evaluation of a nurse’s hairstyle is rare. Therefore, this case study explores dimensions that relate to the evaluation of female nurses’ hairstyles, working in hospitals in Japan. Staff working in hospitals were recruited for a paper-based survey on how they evaluated a nurse’s hairstyle, degree of commitment to the same, and self-management of their hairstyles. Correlation among variables suggested that the positive evaluation of a targeted style negatively correlated with the commitment to a nurse’s hairstyle and self-management. The result indicated that the interactions among traits of evaluators and the targeted hairstyle as stimuli created the impressions and affected the evaluation of a nurse’s hairstyle and not exclusively the appropriateness of the hair itself, as suggested by a prior study.