Influence of Eysenckian Personality Traits in Choice of Specialization by Young Omani Doctors

Profiling health professionals' personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Non-cognitive traits have been theorised to predict characteristics, career choice and outcomes of health professionals and could represent a homogenous group. This study aims to profile and compare personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence of health practitioners across a variety of professions.

METHODS

Empirical literature was systematically reviewed. A two-concept search strategy was applied to four databases (CINAHL, PubMed, Embase, ProQuest). Title/abstract and full text articles were screened against inclusion and exclusion criteria. Methodological quality was assessed using Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Data was synthesised narratively and meta-aggregated where feasible.

RESULTS

Three hundred twenty-one studies representing 153 assessment tools of personality (n = 83 studies), behaviour (n = 8), and emotional intelligence (n = 62) were included. Most studies (n = 171) explored personality (medicine, nursing, nursing assistants, dentistry, allied health, paramedics), revealing variation in traits across professions. Behaviour styles were least measured with only ten studies exploring these across four health professions (nursing, medicine, occupational therapy, psychology). Emotional intelligence (n = 146 studies) varied amongst professions (medicine, nursing, dentistry, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, radiology) with all exhibiting average to above-average scores.

CONCLUSION

Personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence are all key characteristics of health professionals reported in the literature. There is both heterogeneity and homogeneity within and between professional groups. The characterisation and understanding of these non-cognitive traits will aid health professionals to understand their own non-cognitive features and how these might be useful in predicting performance with potential to adapt these to enhance success within their chosen profession.

Personality Traits, Strategies of Coping with Stress and Psychophysical Wellbeing of Surgical and Non-Surgical Doctors in Poland

The aim of the study was to determine the personality traits, strategies of coping with stress and psychophysical wellbeing of surgical and non-surgical Polish doctors. The study used the following questionnaires and scales: the Resiliency Assessment Scale, the Type D Personality Scale, the Framingham Type A Scale, the Mini COPE—Coping Inventory and the Wellbeing Scale. Doctors performing surgical specialties were characterized by a significantly higher level of resilience components, a more frequent occurrence of the type B behaviour pattern and less frequent type D personality than doctors performing non-surgical specializations. The Mini COPE point values were comparable between surgical and non-surgical physicians. The sense of psychological wellbeing was higher in surgical specialists. The higher the values of the Optimistic approach to life and the ability to mobilize oneself in difficult situations, the lower the values of the Turning to religion domain and the higher the values of the Denial domain correlated with the performance of surgical specialization. Men performing surgical specializations were more often optimistic and inclined to consume alcohol, while women with non-surgical specialization more often coped with stress by turning to religion. We conclude that the personality traits of Polish doctors vary depending on their specialization. Physicians’ coping strategies do not differ depending on their specialization. The sense of mental wellbeing is higher in surgical specialists compared to non-surgical specialists. An optimistic approach to life and the ability to mobilize oneself in difficult situations, as well as coping with stress by denial are associated with the surgical specialization. Men performing surgical specialties more often declare optimism and a tendency to cope with stress by consuming alcohol or psychoactive substances, while women who perform non-surgical specializations more often cope with stress by turning to religion. Psychological screening tests and appropriate training, taking into account medical specialization, could be one way of improving resilience and coping with stress among doctors.

The Association Between Personality Traits and Specialty Preference Among Medical Students in Jordan

Aim

To assess the association between personality traits by the five-factor model and specialty choice preference among medical students and immediate medical graduates in Jordan and to identify if there were any significant differences in personality profiles between those planning to pursue different career pathways.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study including fifth- and sixth-year medical students and post-graduate internship doctors at five universities in Jordan. An online survey was used to collect data from participants, which included their general characteristics, their personality profile using the Big Five Inventory–2, and questions about their most preferred specialty choice.

Results

One thousand and twelve participants were enrolled in this study. Only 4.9% were interested in pursuing a specialty in basic medical sciences, and about 12% wanted to be non-practicing medical doctors. Almost half of all participants wanted to pursue a career in surgery-oriented specialties. Those were more extraverted, more conscientious, and had less negative emotions than students who chose medicine-oriented specialties. Students who decided to pursue clinical specialties and students who wanted to be practicing doctors were more extraverted and more conscientious.

Conclusion

Medical students and fresh medical graduates from Jordan who exhibited higher extraversion and conscientiousness and lower negative emotions preferred to be practicing clinicians. They were more inclined to pursue a career in surgery-oriented specialties. These findings might be helpful in understanding the preferences of young doctors and in counseling them about their career paths. Medical educators may wish to incorporate personality trait evaluation in planning post-graduate programs.

Association between HEXACO personality traits and medical specialty preferences in Mexican medical students: a cross-sectional survey

Background

Medical specialty is a critical choice in a physician’s life because it determines their professional future and medical practice. While some are motivated to choose a specific specialty based on the monetary gain it can provide, others are inspired by seeing the work performed by a physician or by a patient’s recovery. It is common to stereotype doctors’ personalities by their specialty.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional survey study in which we administered the 100-item HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised to 292 medical students between September 2018 and March 2019. We evaluated six different domains of personality traits. We also included questions about their medical specialty of choice, their least preferred specialty, and the motivation behind these choices. The participants included 175 women (59.9%) and 117 men (40.1%).

Results

When the participants were asked about their preferred type of medical specialty, 52.4% indicated a preference for surgical specialties (surgical group) vs 47.6% who preferred clinical specialties (clinical group). We found that the surgical group showed significantly higher scores for Extraversion and Organization domains, while the clinical group showed significantly higher scores on the Honesty–Humility, Emotionality, and Agreeableness domains. We identified critical differences within the overall group of medical students by their medical specialty preference.

Conclusions

Some classical stereotypes were confirmed by our results, such as surgical specialists tending to be more extroverted and organized, whereas clinical specialists were prone to being more introverted, anxious, and more emotionally attached to their patients.

A comparison of temperament and character among psychiatry, internal medicine, and surgery residents at Iran University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2013-2014

Background: This study was conducted to compare temperament and character among psychiatry residents, internal medicine, and surgery residents in hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2013-2014. Methods: This cross sectional analytical study was conducted on 201 residents using the non-probability method of convenience sampling. Cloninger's 125-item Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and Maslach's Burnout Inventory (MBI) were distributed among all the residents in their morning session. Once the questionnaires were completed and submitted, the data were analyzed in SPSS 16. The frequency of different personality traits was analyzed among the selected residents. Results: A total of 49.8% of the respondents were female (n=100) and 50.2% were male (n=101). The results of data analysis showed more novelty seeking, reward dependence, and harm avoidance and less persistence (33.93, p=0.006; 9.00, p=0.056; 32.55, p=0.021; and 2.48, p=0.028, respectively) in psychiatry residents than in surgery residents (31.97, 7.87, 30.74, and 3.12 respectively). Reward dependence was more frequent in internal medicine residents than in surgery residents (9.44 and 7.87 respectively, p=0.002). The self-directedness score was lower in psychiatry residents than in internal medicine residents (p=0.761) and higher than in surgery residents (17.96, 18.30, and 17.57 respectively, p=0.824). The cooperativeness and self-transcendence scores were higher in psychiatry residents than in internal medicine (p=0.943, p=0.199, respectively) and surgery residents (p=0.105, p=0.069 respectively). Conclusion: The different dimensions of personality varied between the surgery, internal medicine, and psychiatry residents. Particularly, this study did not show statistically significant differences in dimensions of character (cooperativeness, self-directedness, and self-transcendence) among surgery, internal medicine, and psychiatry residents. The selection of medical specialties based on character traits significantly contributes to more effective treatment of patients and higher satisfaction of the residents.