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Medical specialty choice and well-being at work: Physician's personality as a moderator.

ABSTRACT: We examined whether physicians' personality traits moderate the association between medical specialty and well-being at work. Nationally representative sample of Finnish physicians (n = 2,815; 65% women; aged 25-72 years in 2015) was used. Personality was assessed with the shortened Big Five Inventory. Indicators of well-being at work were measured with scales from Work Ability Index, General Health Questionnaire, Jenkins' Sleep Problems Scale and Suicidal Ideation. Higher extraversion, openness to experience and agreeableness showed as personality traits beneficial for higher well-being at work among person-oriented specialties whereas higher conscientiousness but lower openness and agreeableness showed as personality traits beneficial for higher well-being at work among technique-oriented specialties. The role of neuroticism remains minor in general. Physicians' personality traits may moderate the association between medical specialty and well-being at work.

SUBMITTER: Mullola S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8855160 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Medical specialty choice and well-being at work: Physician's personality as a moderator.

Mullola Sari S Hakulinen Christian C Gimeno Ruiz de Porras David D Presseau Justin J Jokela Markus M Vänskä Jukka J Paunio Tiina T Elovainio Marko M

Archives of environmental & occupational health 20180403 3

We examined whether physicians' personality traits moderate the association between medical specialty and well-being at work. Nationally representative sample of Finnish physicians (<i>n</i> = 2,815; 65% women; aged 25-72 years in 2015) was used. Personality was assessed with the shortened Big Five Inventory. Indicators of well-being at work were measured with scales from Work Ability Index, General Health Questionnaire, Jenkins' Sleep Problems Scale and Suicidal Ideation. Higher extraversion, o ...[more]

PMID: 29522380

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Project description:BackgroundMultiple factors influence the decision to enter a career in medicine and choose a specialty. Previous studies have looked at personality differences in medicine but often were unable to describe the heterogeneity that exists within each specialty. Our study used a person-centered approach to characterize the complex relations between the personality profiles of resident physicians and their choice of specialty.Methods169 resident physicians at a large Midwestern US training hospital completed the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Clusters of personality profiles were identified without regard to medical specialty, and then the personality clusters were tested for association with their choice of specialty by co-clustering analysis. Life satisfaction was tested for association with personality traits and medical specialty by linear regression and analysis of variance.ResultsWe identified five clusters of people with distinct personality profiles, and found that these were associated with particular medical specialties Physicians with an "investigative" personality profile often chose pathology or internal medicine, those with a "commanding" personality often chose general surgery, "rescuers" often chose emergency medicine, the "dependable" often chose pediatrics, and the "compassionate" often chose psychiatry. Life satisfaction scores were not enhanced by personality-specialty congruence, but were related strongly to self-directedness regardless of specialty.ConclusionsThe personality profiles of physicians were strongly associated with their medical specialty choices. Nevertheless, the relationships were complex: physicians with each personality profile went into a variety of medical specialties, and physicians in each medical specialty had variable personality profiles. The plasticity and resilience of physicians were more important for their life satisfaction than was matching personality to the prototype of a particular specialty.

Project description:BackgroundChoosing a medical specialty is an important, complex, and not fully understood process. The present study investigated the factors that are related to choosing and rejecting medical specialties in a group of students and recent medical doctors.Methodology and findingsA cross-sectional survey of 1,223 medical students and doctors was performed in Brazil in 2012. A standardized literature-based questionnaire was applied that gathered preferable or rejected specialties, and asked questions about extracurricular experiences and the influence of 14 factors on a Likert-type scale from 0 to 4. Specialties were grouped according to lifestyle categories: controllable and uncontrollable, which were subdivided into primary care, internal medicine, and surgical specialties. Notably, the time period of rejection was usually earlier than the time period of intended choice (p < 0.0001, χ(2) = 107.2). The choice mainly occurred during the internship period in medical school (n = 466; 38.7%). An overall large frequency of participation in extracurricular activities was observed (n = 1,184; 95.8%), which were highly associated with the respective medical area. Orthopedic surgery had the highest correlation with participation in specialty-specific organized groups (OR = 59.9, 95% CI = 21.6-166.3) and psychiatry was correlated with participation in research groups (OR = 18.0, 95% CI = 9.0-36.2). With regard to influential factors in controllable lifestyle specialties, "financial reason" (mean score ± standard deviation: 2.8 ± 1.0; median = 3) and "personal time" (3.1 ± 1.3; median = 4) were important factors. In primary care, these factors were less important (1.7 ± 1.3 and 1.7 ± 1.5, respectively; median = 2 for both), and higher scores were observed for "curricular internship" (3.2 ± 1.1, median = 4) and "social commitment" (2.6 ± 1.3, median = 3).ConclusionThe present findings provide important insights into developing strategies to stimulate interest in specialties based on the needs of the Brazilian healthcare system.

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Medical specialty choice and well-being at work: Physician's personality as a moderator.

Publications

Medical specialty choice and well-being at work: Physician's personality as a moderator.

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