The synergistic effects of personality and occupational stress on depression and anxiety amongst healthcare professionals

Abstract

The field of healthcare has been shown to be among the most stressful settings for one to work in (Koinis et al., 2015). In addition, healthcare professionals face greatly elevated rates of mental health difficulties as well as overall poorer levels of health (Weinberg and Creed, 2003). This study investigates the role of perceived occupational stress and personality in two of the most commonly cited mental health difficulties within this population; depression and anxiety. A total of 200 healthcare professionals (35% males; 65% females) recruited through convenience sampling from Mater Dei Hospital, completed online surveys consisting of psychometric tests to gauge personality, perceived occupational stress, depression and anxiety, as well as key demographic variables. These included the BFI (Personality), the BJSQ (Occupational Stress), PHQ-9 (Depression) and the GAD-7 (Anxiety). Results indicate that the local scenario is similar to findings presented in international research with healthcare professionals scoring much higher in depression and anxiety compared to the general population. Data was analysed at a descriptive, bivariate and finally, multiple regression level. Multiple regression analysis identified gender, conscientiousness, neuroticism and perceived occupational stress as relevant predictors for depression, explaining 37-38% of variance. In addition, gender, neuroticism and perceived occupational stress were identified as relevant predictors for anxiety, explaining 43-44% of variance. These findings suggest that male healthcare professionals with low conscientiousness, high neuroticism and high perceived occupational stress are most likely to experience elevated rates of depression. Male healthcare professionals who score high in neuroticism and perceived occupational stress are also most likely to experience elevated rates of anxiety.