Personalidad, vocación y marcadores biológicosefectos sobre el ajuste académico de los estudiantes de enfermería

Abstract

Health Sciences students should have personality typology to predicts empathic behavior and emotional stability for management stressful situations implicit in professional performance. To measure academic performance, different variables have been considered, such as personality traits, the type of coping in stressful situations, the congruence of vocational interests with the chosen studies, the activity of the HPA axis in the face of anticipated stress measured through of the cortisol response upon awakening (CAR) and Engagement. Likewise, Engagement is defined as a psychological state of accomplishment and commitment to the task performed. It is theoretically opposite to Burnout and shows a positive influence on personal and academic functioning. Personality factors can help to understand why, under the same learning context conditions, some students show a positive mental state related to their studies. The aim of this study was to determine the personality characteristics of a sample of nursing students based on the Big Five model. After determining the personality profiles, we analyzed the differences in Engagement, vocational interests, the strategies used to assess and to cope with stress, and the cortisol response upon awakening based on these profiles. The sample consisted of 90 nursing students. The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R), Primary Stress Assessment, Stress Coping Strategies, Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TripM) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-S) questionnaires were used. In addition, saliva samples were taken to analyze cortisol upon awakening, at 30' and 45' and the level of vocational interest was measured. The results showed that the existence of Engagement is positively associated with Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness, and negatively associated with the Neuroticism personality trait. This was confirmed with a cluster analysis in which two groups of differentiated students according to their personality were found. The students classified in the first cluster, which was defined by a profile with low Neuroticism and high scores on the rest of the personality traits, had a higher presence of Engagement. In the second cluster, defined by high Neuroticism and low Extraversion, Agreeableness, Openness and Conscientiousness, the presence of Engagement was lower. Regarding the results obtained in the comparison of groups of personality traits and Vocation, the nursing students who chose their career by Vocation presented high personality traits in Responsibility, Agreeableness, Extraversion, Openness and low in Neuroticism. On the other hand, the results showed that students with a low level of Agreeableness showed a lower cortisol response upon awakening. Taking these results into account, the assessment of personality, Engagement and salivary cortisol can be useful measurement tools to find out about students’ well-being and be able to carry out strategies aimed at preventing the consequences of academic stress in the most vulnerable students. Personality traits description showed a lowly empathetic profile and lowly emotional stability. This characteristic difficult to establish a satisfactory relationship with the patient in a clinical setting and the ability to cope with adverse situations. With these results we think the question of evaluating personal student’s typology beforehand to plan training programs during undergraduate studies or to previously consider personality traits for access to degree studies.