En kostym är inte bara en kostym -en studie om de vita arbetsklädernas betydelse för hälso- och sjukvårdskuratorn inom vuxenpsykiatrin

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which health care counsellors in psychiatry for adults relate to the requirement of wearing white work clothes and how the white work clothes affect the psychosocial conversation. No previous research has been found on this matter in a Swedish context or for health care counsellors in particular. In this study, seven health care counsellors who work in adult psychiatry were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The empirical data has been analyzed on the basis of Goffman’s (2009) dramaturgical approach. The results of the study show that the health care counsellors find the requirement to wear white work clothes being unclearly motivated and a majority of the respondents are skeptical. Despite this, the interviewees accept the clothes in their role as health care counsellors. The study also show that there is a clear backstage area, where the health care counsellors can wear their own and clothes and a frontstage area, where they have to use the white work clothes. Furthermore the results point out that it is not clear who is responsible for the dress code is being followed by the staff. The study also show that the patients are expected to accept that the counsellors wear white clothes even though there is a group of patients who, because of past trauma, are assumed to have difficulties with them.