Results
Reliability
The reliability statistics generated Cronbach α index values of above 0.60 (for the MBI test, the value was 0.738, and for the Big Five Inventory, the value was 0.925), which were both adequate.
Overall Univariate Descriptive Analysis
Data gathered from the MBI are shown in Table 1. The study sample exhibited high degrees of emotional fatigue and depersonalization accompanied by marginally reduced personal achievement.
Regarding the personality traits studied (Table 2), nursing staff tended to be more extroverted and sociable, whereas degrees of responsibility were balanced among the 3 categories (high, medium, and low). A high level of neuroticism and openness to change was also observed.
Analysis of Variance
We conducted an analysis of personality features of the professionals interviewed to observe whether varying degrees of burnout (emotional fatigue, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment) were observed among sampled professionals. The data denote significant variations in stress levels for 4 of the 5 personality variables (see Table 3): extraversion, sociability, neuroticism, and openness to change.
In the case of extraversion, given that significant variations were observed for 1 of the features of burnout (depersonalization), the Scheffe Test was used to draw paired comparisons among the 3 groups (low, medium, and high scores), for which subjects were divided according to their scores on this personality variable. The test results indicated that less extroverted respondents exhibited a lower degree of emotional fatigue than more extroverted respondents did (difference in means, −6.005; P = .030).
The same test was conducted for the sociability variable, as this trait also exhibited a high correlation with the variable measuring emotional fatigue. Paired comparisons between respondents of low and medium sociability generated significant results (difference in means, −5.626; P = .035); that is, less sociable subjects exhibited lower degrees of emotional fatigue than did those of higher average sociability. However, no differences were found between respondents of average sociability and highly sociable participants.
Table 3 illustrates significant variations found for the neuroticism variable and again in relation to the emotional fatigue variable. The Scheffe analysis indicated that respondents exhibiting low levels of neuroticism showed emotional fatigue, and those exhibiting higher levels of neuroticism presented average degrees of emotional fatigue, with significant differences found between group 1 (low levels of a personality trait) and group 3 (high levels of a personality trait). The difference in means was −4.869 (P = .049).
Finally, significant differences were also found for the openness to change variable, not with regard to emotional fatigue but rather in relation to reduced personal achievement. These results were generated from the comparison between groups 1 (low openness to change) and 3 (high openness to change). The data indicated that individuals who are not exceedingly open to change exhibited moderate degrees of reduced personal achievement. High openness to change had the opposite effect; that is, it promoted a high degree of achievement (difference in means, −4.833; P = .010).