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. 2024 Mar 4;12(5):587.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare12050587.

Personality Traits, Burnout, and Psychopathology in Healthcare Professionals in Intensive Care Units-A Moderated Analysis

Varvara Pakou  1 , Dimitrios Tsartsalis  2   3 , Georgios Papathanakos  1 , Elena Dragioti  2 , Mary Gouva  2 , Vasilios Koulouras  1
Affiliations

Personality Traits, Burnout, and Psychopathology in Healthcare Professionals in Intensive Care Units-A Moderated Analysis

Varvara Pakou et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

This study explored the associations between personality dimensions, burnout, and psychopathology in healthcare professionals in intensive care units (ICUs). This study further aimed to discern the differences in these relationships when considering the variables of critical care experience (less than 5 years, 5-10 years, and more than 10 years), profession (nurses versus intensivists), and the urban size of the city where the ICU is located (metropolitan cities versus smaller urban cities). This cross-sectional investigation's outcomes are based on data from 503 ICU personnel, including 155 intensivists and 348 nurses, in 31 ICU departments in Greece. Participants underwent a comprehensive assessment involving a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). To analyze the interplay among critical care experience, burnout status, and psychopathology, a moderation analysis was conducted with personality dimensions (i.e., psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism) serving as the mediator variable. Profession and the urban size of the ICU location were considered as moderators influencing these relationships. Male healthcare professionals showed higher psychoticism levels than females, aligning with prior research. Experienced nurses reported lower personal achievement, hinting at potential motivation challenges for professional growth. Psychoticism predicted high depersonalization and low personal achievement. Neuroticism and psychoticism negatively impacted ICU personnel's mental well-being, reflected in elevated psychopathology scores and burnout status. Psychoticism appears to be the primary factor influencing burnout among the three personality dimensions, particularly affecting intensivists. In contrast, nurses are more influenced by their critical care experience on their mental health status.

Keywords: burnout; intensive care unit; intensivists; nurses; personality; psychopathology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Theoretical moderated mediation model. Notes: Personality dimensions are hypothesized to mediate the relationship between critical care experience and burnout/psychopathology. In contrast, profession, and urban size of ICU location (and potentially age and sex) are hypothesized to moderate the relationships within the model.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Interaction effects of critical care experience, urban size of ICU location, and profession on the personality traits in the context of the examined model. Notes: The length of critical care experience was categorized into three groups: less than 5 years, 5–10 years, and more than 10 years. (Panel A) Differences in neuroticism were assessed across these groups by the urban size of ICU location categorized as ‘minor city’ and ‘metropolitan city’. Differences in psychoticism (Panel B) and extraversion (Panel C) were assessed across these groups by the profession categorized as ‘intensivist’ and ‘nurse’. Each dot represents the mean score for the respective group, while the error bars signify 95% confidence intervals.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Interaction effects of critical care experience, profession, and urban size of ICU location on the probability of burnout symptoms and psychopathology in the context of the examined model. Notes: (Panel A) The probability of low personal achievement across different levels of critical care experience for the two professions. Each dot represents the mean score for the respective group, while the error bars signify 95% confidence intervals. (Panel B) The psychopathology scores against levels of psychoticism for individuals in metropolitan versus minor cities. The shaded areas around the lines represent 95% confidence intervals, while the lines show that as psychoticism increased, so did the psychopathology score, with a stronger effect seen in metropolitan areas. (Panel C) The relationship between the personality trait of psychoticism and the probability of low personal achievement for intensivists and nurses. The shaded areas around the lines represent 95% confidence intervals. The upward trend for both lines suggests that as psychoticism increased, the likelihood of low personal achievement also increased, with a steeper slope for intensivists than for nurses. (Panel D) The probability of experiencing high depersonalization against the level of psychoticism for intensivists and nurses. The shaded areas around the lines represent 95% confidence intervals. The trend indicates that higher levels of psychoticism were associated with a higher probability of experiencing high depersonalization. The difference in slopes between the two professions suggests that the effect of psychoticism on depersonalization was more pronounced in intensivists.
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