Personality Traits and Demographic Characteristics of General Practitioners: preliminary data from a Cross-Sectional Survey in 10 European countries

Ileana Gefaell, Marija Zafirovska, Sara Ares-Blanco, Aleksandar Zafirovski, Maria Bakola, Zoltán Lako-Futó, Limor Adler, Laura Calvo-García, Marta Castelo-Jurado, Ana Peñalver-Andrada, Ana Carmen San Martín Luis, Didem Kafadar, Janis Blumfelds, Anna Kamienska, Marta Sanz Sanz, Marta Perez Álvarez, Eleni Jelastopulu, Aleksander Stepanović, César Minué Lorenzo, Luiz Miguel Santiago, Joana Sousa, Carla Gouveia, Lourdes Ramos Del Río, Marina Guisado Clavero

Keywords: Personality Inventory, Physicians, Primary Care, diagnosis, Chronic Disease

Background:

The five-factor model identifies personality traits like extraversion, openness to experiences (OE), agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. Personality may influence a general practitioner's (GP's) diagnosis and decision-making in patient care. However, it´s exact role in medical care remains unknown.

Research questions:

Is there an association between personality traits, and professional profile among General Practitioners?

Method:

Cross-sectional study, based on an online survey in 10 European countries. Population: GPs with an assigned population for at least one year. Sample size:800. Primary outcome: Prevalence of chronic diseases assigned to GPs according to their personality test. Variables: socio-demographics, years of experience, years in the same practice. Personality test: Big Five Inventory (BFI): 44-item Likert scale. Maximum score for each personality trait: OE:43; Extraversion: 42; Agreeableness: 41; Conscientiousness 41; Neuroticism; 35. Chronic diseases of the assigned population (CIE-9): diabetes mellitys, coronary heart disease, stroke, anxiety, depression, arthrosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Data collection: Electronic records. Analysis: descriptive analysis.

Results:

65 GPs have already responded to the survey: North Macedonia 12, Slovenia 8, and Spain 45. Median age: 49 (IQR:39-55) years, female: 73.44%. Experience in primary care: 19 (standard deviation (SD): 10.49) years. Same assigned population: 8 (interquartile range (IQR): 3-16) years.
BFI scores (points): Openness to experience: 30.42 (SD: 5.64, CI 95% 29.02-31.81); Extraversion: 27.15 (SD:5.3, 95%CI:25.84-28.47); Agreeableness: 31.39 (SD:4.80, 95%CI:30.20-32.57); Conscientiousness: 31.48 (SD:5.12, 95%CI: 30.21-32.74); Neuroticism: 21.30 (SD: 6.03, 95%CI:19.79-22.80). Agreeable GPs had higher scores for responsibility and neuroticism. GPs with higher scores for responsibility were more experienced. Those with higher scores for OE had less than 1500 patients assigned. There were no other differences in the remaining analyses.

Conclusions:

GPs showed higher scores for openness to experience, agreeableness, and responsibility. We need to reach the sample size to analyze further the influence of personality traits in medical care.

Points for discussion:

What effect would you expect about personality traits in medical care?

For further analysis, how would you standardize the data of Chronic diseases to compare each country?

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