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Pressure Analysis as a Design Research Technique for Increasing the Comfort of Nursing Brassieres
Author(s) -
Costantakos Anastasia V.,
Watkins Susan M.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
home economics research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 0046-7774
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x8201000306
Subject(s) - shoulders , perception , psychology , medicine , simulation , computer science , surgery , neuroscience
The objectives of this research were to determine whether localized pressure on areas of the breasts, shoulders, and back of nursing mothers could be decreased by varying specific design features of a nursing bra and whether objectively measured changes in pressure were related to noticeable changes in subjective perception of bra comfort. Ten nursing mothers were tested wearing their own bras, a specially selected sports bra, and four modified versions of the sports bra. The pressure exerted by each bra model was monitored using a load analyzer system. Each subject was asked to rate the comfort of each bra in comparison with the previously worn model. Statistically significant reductions in pressure were observed for several of the design features tested. In all cases, objective readings of pressure reductions were accompanied by subjective ratings of increased comfort.