Personality traits and perceived cognitive function in lebanese healthcare professionals

The healthcare field, a well-known field associated with variety of stressors, leaves healthcare professionals at an increased risk of both physical and mental problems. COVID-19 pandemic has recently been added to the stressful factors by endangering further the cognitive function of healthcare workers. On another hand, personality traits have been shown to have pervasive associations with functioning across various cognitive domains. Thus, this study aims to evaluate association between personality traits and perceived cognitive function among healthcare professionals in Lebanon during the collapsing period (following the severe economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic).

This cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2021 and January 2022 enrolled 406 Lebanese participants using the convenience sampling technique for data collection. Healthcare professionals from all specialties who received the online link to the survey were eligible to participate. The Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2) and Fact Cog scale were used to assess personality traits and cognitive function.

After adjustment over all variables (age, gender, household crowding index, physical activity index, marital status, profession and the other four personality traits), higher negative emotionality was significantly associated with a worse cognitive function, whereas more extroversion and conscientiousness were significantly associated with a better cognitive function.

Our study adds to the narrow body of research revolving around the relationship between personality traits and perceived cognitive function in Lebanese healthcare professionals during these hard times in Lebanon. These results show that the choice of these cognitive processes is strongly affected by different personality traits, such as extroversion, conscientiousness, and negative emotionality. This study encourages the need to conduct further research that assess the changes in cognition in life stressors along with personality traits.