Not My Type: A Critical Look at Enneagram Use in Resident Education

Personality assessments are frequently used in professional development, yet their role in residency education remains controversial. The Enneagram, a nine-type personality framework, has gained popularity in wellness programming despite limited empirical evaluation. This study examined whether Enneagram personality types cluster by residency specialty and whether an Enneagram-based educational intervention yields sustained perceived benefit.

Residents from seven specialties at a single institution completed the 144-question Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator during a structured educational session. Six months later, participants completed a follow-up survey assessing perceived changes in communication, professionalism, and well-being using 5-point Likert scales. Enneagram diversity across specialties was analyzed using Shannon and Simpson diversity indices with bootstrap confidence intervals. Ordinal logistic regression evaluated associations between specialty, personality type, and perceived benefit.

Eighty-eight residents completed baseline assessment; 54 (61%) completed follow-up. All nine personality types were represented across all specialties with no specific clustering by diversity indices. At 6 mo, most residents reported neutral or negative perceptions regarding improvement in communication, professionalism, mental health, emotional regulation, or overall wellness (agreement <25% across domains). General surgery and pediatric residents reported the lowest perceived benefit. No consistent positive associations were identified.

Enneagram personality types did not cluster by residency specialty, and a single-session Enneagram-based intervention was not associated with sustained perceived improvement in communication or wellness outcomes. These findings suggest personality frameworks should not be used as stand-alone educational or wellness interventions in residency training. If personality frameworks are used in medical education, positive impact will likely require longitudinal, integrated use, rather than one-time exposure.