The Relationship between Personality Characteristics and Adherence to Professional Values among Nursing Students

Professional values are the core of developing professional identity and among the determining factors behind nurses’ professional practice. Adherence to professional values seems to be affected by personality characteristics.

This study aimed to assess the relationship between personality characteristics and adherence to professional values among nursing students.

This descriptive correlational study was conducted on 200 nursing students recruited from Urmia Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Urmia, Iran. Study data were collected using the Holland’s Personality Questionnaire and the Nurses Professional Values Scale‑Revised and were analyzed using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and the Pearson’s correlation analysis.

Participants’ closest adherence to professional values was related to the dimensions of trust (particularly the item “Maintain competency in area of practice”) and caring (particularly the item “Maintain confidentiality of patient”). Their poorest adherence was to the dimensions of professionalism (particularly the item “Participate in peer review”) and activism (particularly the item “Participate in nursing research and/or implement research findings appropriate to practice”). The social personality type had significant relationships with all dimensions of adherence to professional values, while the investigative personality type had significant relationships only with the caring (P = 0.021) and the justice (P = 0.013) dimensions. Moreover, the artistic personality type had significant relationships with the trust (P < 0.001), professionalism (P = 0.004), and caring (P = 0.001) dimensions.

Personality characteristics have significant relationships with adherence to professional values among nursing students. Therefore, personality characteristics is suggested to be considered as a main criterion for the recruitment of new students to nursing.