The relationship between resilience and personality traits in doctors: Implications for enhancing well being

Abstract

Objective: The health and well being of medical doctors is vital to their longevity and safe practice. The concept of resilience is recognised as a key component of well being and is an important factor in medical training to help doctors learn to cope with challenge, stress, and adversity. This study examined the relationship of resilience to personality traits and resilience in doctors in order to identify the key traits that promote or impair resilience. Methods: A cross sectional cohort of 479 family practitioners in practice across Australia was studied. The Temperament and Character Inventory measured levels of the seven basic dimensions of personality and the Resilience Scale provided an overall measure of resilience. The associations between resilience and personality were examined by Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, controlling for age and gender (α= 0:05 with an accompanying 95% confidence level) andmultiple regression analyses. Results: Strong to medium positive correlations were found between Resilience and Self-directedness (r = .614, p < :01). Individual differences in personality explained 39% of the variance in resilience [F(7,460)= 38.40, p