Student nurses' personality traits and the nursing profession: part 1

Individuals' attitudes stem partly from their personality traits, which may influence their interpersonal relationships with patients. Although personality traits are somewhat genetically determined, research has found that there are other factors, which may influence this, such as self-esteem, family, social and clinical environments and education. Part one of this article presents the methodology of a cross-sectional descriptive study that assessed the personality traits of two cohorts (n=116) of nursing/midwifery students aged 19-44 years (mean=21.5) in their third year of the nursing diploma/BSc (Hons) at the University of Malta. Data were collected by the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (Costa and McCrae, 1992a) in 2006. While acknowledging that this study limits generalisation of the findings such as, collection of data in the third year of the course, following an attrition rate of 47% (Diploma) and 23% (BSc) since the start of the course programme, the findings presented in part two shed light on the nature of personality traits of students who are attracted towards the nursing profession.