15 Notably, patient age was often predictive of attire preference with patients older than 40 years of age uniformly preferring formal attire compared to younger patients in seven studies.
For example, six studies conducted in general medicine outpatient clinics reported that patients preferred formal attire with or without a white coat, 1 15 34 35 40 41 while three reported preference for a white coat with other attire not specified.
While most of the 21 million male golfers learn from family or friends, women seem to prefer formal instruction.
Individuals who engage in less intensive caregiving might prefer formal care to informal care for example, workers with caregiving responsibilities, as it may ease the intensity of informal caregiving and allow them to continue their work.
16 35 Similarly, among five studies from the UK, Scotland and Ireland, 18 25 26 34 39 four reported that patients preferred formal attire or white coats.
Although patients often prefer formal physician attire, perceptions of attire are influenced by age, locale, setting and context of care.
Therefore, to shed light on these issues, we conducted a systematic review of the literature hypothesising that patients will prefer formal attire in most settings.
However, a more recent review reported that patients prefer formal attire and a white coat, noting that "these partialities had a limited overall impact on patient satisfaction and confidence in practitioners".
We therefore believe that social desirability bias is not the reason for the low use of informal providers reported, but that TB patients in Tajikistan really preferred formal health care providers.
