Hospital socks, also known as psych ward socks or grippy socks, are socks given to patients at hospitals, psychiatric facilities, and nursing homes. The socks have non-skid features to prevent patients from slipping and falling.[1] Patients can sometimes arrive at hospital by ambulance without footwear, and are typically provided with socks having a rubberised tread pattern to improve their grip strength. These non-slip socks are intended as alternative footwear to help prevent falls, but there is limited evidence for their usefulness.[2]
Social media
editYoung people on social media commonly refer to hospital socks as "grippy socks". Slang terms for in-patient psychiatric hospitalization may include "grippy sock vacation", "grippy sock palace", "grippy sock jail", and "grippy sock hotel". Mental health professionals have expressed concern that such black humor may trivialize or romanticize the experience of psychiatric hospitalization.[3] Some feel that tongue-in-cheek terms like "grippy sock vacation" can help destigmatize mental illness.[4] Tags for "grippy socks" are a popular mental health-related tag on TikTok, where the tags have several hundred million views.[5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "'I need a grippy sock vacation': Breaking down the Gen-Z slang term for a trip to an inpatient psychiatric facility". Yahoo!. 14 December 2022. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
- ^ Hartung B, Lalonde M (2017). "The use of non-slip socks to prevent falls among hospitalized older adults: A literature review". Geriatr Nurs. 38 (5): 412–416. doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2017.02.002. PMID 28285830. S2CID 24097125.
- ^ "This online trend seems to glamorize psychiatric hospitalization. Providers are seeing its effects — on youth". FierceHealthcare.com. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
- ^ "From 'menty b' to 'grippy socks,' internet slang is taking over how we talk about mental health". CNN.com. 30 November 2023. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
- ^ "Refreshingly Real or Romanticising? Dissecting Mental Health TikTok". Injection Magazine. 6 November 2022. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
External links
edit- ‘Grippy Socks Vacation’ and Our Media Diet, TheUnfilteredMagazine.com
- Psych Ward Socks, KnowYourMeme.com
- Significance of Grippy Socks in Psych Wards