AUTHOR=Maringgele Victoria Elena , Scherr Martin , Aichhorn Wolfgang , Kaiser Andreas Kurt 

TITLE=Depressive symptoms are more influenced by personality traits and styles than working in nursing—a study during the COVID-19 pandemic

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1138185

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1138185

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Background</title><p>According to literature, the COVID-19 pandemic caused stressful working conditions for nurses, which may have a negative impact on their Well-Being and mental health.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Aim</title><p>To investigate whether nurses and <italic>non</italic>-helping professionals differ in their Well-Being. Furthermore, we analyzed, for the first time, which personality traits and styles are a risk factor for nurses’ wellbeing during COVID-19 pandemic.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Methods</title><p>In an online survey, the following psychological tests were used on nursing staff (<italic>n</italic> = 518) and <italic>non</italic>-helping professionals (<italic>n</italic> = 335): <italic>WHO-Five</italic> (<italic>WHO-5</italic>), the <italic>Personality, Style and Disorder Inventory</italic> (<italic>PSSI</italic>), and the <italic>Freiburg Personality Inventory-Revised</italic> (<italic>FPI-R</italic>).</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Results</title><p>Nurses and <italic>non</italic>-helping professionals did not differ significantly in terms of Well-Being. The Well-Being of nurses was correlated with the following personality traits and styles, namely <italic>Spontaneous-Borderline Personality Style</italic>, <italic>Silent-Depressive Personality Style</italic>, <italic>Strain</italic>, <italic>Emotionality</italic>, and <italic>Life Satisfaction</italic>. According to our results, 33% of participants suffered from clinically significant depressive symptoms.</p></sec><sec id="sec5"><title>Discussion</title><p>According to our results, nurses are not more at risk for depression. However, it was shown that Well-Being during the pandemic is highly dependent on personality.</p></sec><sec id="sec6"><title>Conclusion</title><p>Specific personality traits and styles are a greater predictor of depressive symptoms than profession. The stressful occupational environment during COVID-19 pandemic is not the only cause for depressive symptoms in nurses. Psychotherapeutic interventions are especially important for particular individuals and are necessary to prevent depressive symptoms during COVID-19 pandemic.</p></sec>