Comparing temperament and character traits in Australian doctors and nurses
Dr Diann Eley, University of Queensland, Australia*
Dr Robert Eley, University of Queensland, Australia
The gravity of the rural health workforce shortage has prompted a re-examination of personal traits as an additional perspective to better understand who chooses to work in non-urban and underserved locations. This study builds on previous work (1, 2) toward the establishment of a psychobiological profile of health professionals and reports on an exploratory comparison of the levels of temperament and character traits in rural based general practitioners (GPs) and nurses and urban based GPs in Queensland.
A cross sectional quantitative design used the Temperament and Character Inventory (3) plus a demographic questionnaire to identify levels of the seven dimensions of temperament and character in nurses and GPs in practice for at least five years. Multivariate statistics made multiple comparisons between groups and TCI scores.
Total sample size was 426 comprising urban GPs (n=94), rural GPs (n=120) and rural nurses (n=212). The majority of the total sample were female (n=269, 63%) and between 30 and 60 years of age (n=276. 87%) and reported having a rural background (n=236, 56%).
TCI scores were normally distributed. Significant main effects (p>.001) for groups include; urban GPs lowest in Novelty Seeking compared to rural GPs and nurses; nurses higher in Reward Dependence and Self Transcendence, and lower in Self Directedness and Cooperativeness compared to rural and urban GPs.
Differences in temperament and character trait profiles between GPs and nurses may challenge existing stereotypes between these professions. Nurses and GPs differed in temperament trait levels and urban GPs were different than rural GPs and nurses. These preliminary findings imply that specific trait profiles may be identified in different disciplines and work locations and justify further investigation to enhance a broad conceptualisation of the health professions.
1. Journal of Rural Health 2009, 251:43-49.
2. Journal of Clinical Nursing doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2009.03122.x
3. Archives of General Psychiatry 1993, 50:975-990.