Thesis
Clothing needs of teen girls with disabilities
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2010
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/101266
Abstract
While research about clothing for people with disabilities has been an area of interest for decades among clothing scholars, a very limited amount of information exists about clothing and teens with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to identify the perceived clothing needs of teen girls with disabilities. In order to identify these needs the Functional, Expressive and Aesthetic (FEA) Model (Lamb & Kallal, 1992) was used as the conceptual framework. An online survey was distributed to organizations and individuals known to serve people with disabilities. Those organizations and individuals who agreed to help sent a link to the survey by e-mail to clients perceived as potential participants. Thirty-three teen girls with disabilities responded to the online survey about their clothing interest, problems and needs. A new application of the FEA model was used to code the qualitative data and identify themes in survey responses while the quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The teens reported a wide range of clothing interest categorized as low, medium and high. Clothing satisfaction responses were mostly related to functional needs. The main clothing issues that emerged were related to fit, donning and doffing, and difficulty using fasteners. The teens showed a strong desire for clothing that was stylish but had alternative fastener systems like Velcro®, snaps and elastic waistbands rather than buttons and zippers. Additionally, a modification to the FEA Model was suggested. Currently the bodygarment relationship falls under the aesthetic considerations category of the model. It is proposes in this study that the body-garment relationship does not belong to a single consideration type, but that it is an integration of the functional, expressive and aesthetic considerations.
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Details
- Title
- Clothing needs of teen girls with disabilities
- Creators
- Bailey M. Stokes
- Contributors
- Catherine Black (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525010101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis