The Relationship Between Personality Traits and Clinical Competence in Psychiatric Nurses

Background: Nurses are key members of the health care system, and their clinical competence is essential, especially in the psychiatric department. Various factors contribute to this competence. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the predictive role of personality traits in psychiatric nursing clinical competence among psychiatric nurses. Objectives: This study is a descriptive correlational study aimed at determining the predictive role of personality traits in psychiatric nursing clinical competence among psychiatric nurses. Methods: The study sample included 271 nurses working in psychiatric departments in the provinces of Qazvin and Zanjan. Qazvin province has two psychiatric hospitals: Qazvin 22 Bahman Specialized Psychiatric Hospital of Medical Sciences, which has three clinical departments for men, women, and emergency, and Qods Specialized Children's Hospital, which has a pediatric psychiatric department. Zanjan province also has two psychiatric hospitals: Dr. Shahid Beheshti, the dedicated psychiatric hospital of Zanjan Medical Sciences, which has four clinical departments for men, women, emergency, and neurotic patients, and Abhar Emdadi Hospital, which has clinical departments for men, women, and emergency. Data were collected using demographic tools, a self-assessment questionnaire of psychiatric nurses' clinical qualifications, and the HEXACO personality traits questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 25. Results: The mean age of nurses was 36.55 ± 7.13 years. Of the participants, 105 (38.7%) were male, and the rest were female. The mean work experience of nurses was 10.82 ± 6.91 years, with the mean work experience in the psychiatric ward reported as 4.183 ± 3.83 years. According to the results, the mean score of general clinical competence was 26.40, specific clinical competence was 90.08, and the mean score of personality traits was 174.20 ± 22.4. The findings revealed a significant relationship between clinical competence and the components of 'honesty-humility', 'agreeableness', and 'conscientiousness' (P < 0.01). Conclusions: The findings showed that psychiatric nurses' clinical competence in psychiatric nursing is good. Among the personality traits, only the subscale of openness has a predictive role. Policymakers and nursing managers are expected to implement workshops and interventions to improve the clinical competency of psychiatric nursing.