Abstract
Objective: Personality disorder is a multi-factorial condition in which workplace stress plays a significant role. This study was undertaken due to scarcity of information regarding the role of workplace stress which can cause personality disorder among nurses. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of personality disorders in nurses working in different hospital departments and assess factors affecting its onset. Methods: In this cross-sectional study the personality disorders of nurses working in various hospital departments were evaluated based on Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) test. After the completion of questionnaires, data were entered to MMPI-2 test’s special software and the final result was interpreted based on the opinion of a clinical psychologist. Finally, multivariate logistic regression model was used to assess the independent effect of the mentioned factors on prevalence of personality disorders in nurses. Results: We gathered data from 2 groups of participants (n = 206). These groups included nurses in emergency departments and nurses in other hospital units. The mean of age was 32.5 ± 6.9 years. Overall, 54.3% (n = 38) of non-emergency nurses and 45.7% (n = 32) of emergency nurses showed symptoms of personality disorders respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that history of a serious accident or trauma increased the odds of detecting personality disorders up to 3.8 times (odds ratio [OR] = 3.84; 95% CI: 1.33-11.06; P = 0.01). In addition, an unpleasant incident in the past year increased it up to 2.2 times (OR = 2.23; 95% CI: 1.18 – 4.22; P = 0.01) in both groups. Conclusion: The present study showed that there was no significant difference between emergency departments and other units of hospitals regarding the prevalence of personality disorders among nurses. Overall, somatization, hysteria, and pollyannaish were the most common personality disorders among the studied population
Highlights
The personality characteristics of each person play an important role in their manner of working and efficacy in their workplace
Most participants were married (58.2%) and 199 (99.0%) had an undergraduate degree. 99 (49.25%) participants worked in non-emergency departments, and 102 (50.75%) worked in ED
70 (34.8%) nurses showed symptoms of personality disorders in which 38 (54.3%) of them worked in non-emergency departments (non-ED) and 32 (45.7%) worked in ED (P = 0.30) (Figure 1)
Summary
The personality characteristics of each person play an important role in their manner of working and efficacy in their workplace. The stress and tension of workplace is one of the most important causes of psychological illnesses. A systematic review showed a 26%-35% prevalence of personality and psychological disorders among emergency department (ED) nurses due to their job [3,4]. These disorders affect the personnel’s health, and decrease their competence and the quality of services they provide [5]. Previous studies have reported the effect of work place in prevalence of psychological disorders in nurses. Personality disorder is a multi-factorial condition in which stress of workplace, exhaustion of staff and personal and social factors should be studied simultaneously. Numerous studies are available in the field of personality
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