Differences in personality and character traits of occupational therapy researchers and non-researchers: A cross-sectional study

IF 1.6 4区医学 Q2 REHABILITATION

Australian Occupational Therapy Journal Pub Date : 2025-04-10 DOI:10.1111/1440-1630.70015

Clara Leong, Kristie J. Harper, Shuang Shuang Han, Leyla Osborne, Georgia Alcock, Susan L. Taylor

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction

Despite a high level of interest in research, many occupational therapists are not engaged in research activities. Understanding how occupational therapists' personality and character traits influence research engagement is crucial to designing effective research capacity building strategies. This study aimed to identify and compare personality and character traits of occupational therapy researchers and non-researchers across Australia.

Methods

An exploratory cross-sectional study was conducted using modified versions of the Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience Personality Inventory-Revised-60 (HEXACO-PI-R-60) and the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths-72 (VIA-IS-72) questionnaires. Differences in personality and character traits between researchers and non-researchers and correlations with research engagement were explored. Factor analysis was used to test the psychometric properties of the modified questionnaires.

Results

Forty-seven researchers and 78 non-researchers participated in the online survey. There were significant differences between groups for traits of love of learning (P = 0.01), curiosity (P = 0.03), and creativity (P = 0.02). These traits were significantly associated with research engagement. Participants in the non-researcher group scored higher for traits of perfectionism and organisation; however, the results were not statistically significant. Factor analysis demonstrated that the modified personality questionnaires achieved similar psychometric properties and factor matrixes compared to the original versions.

Conclusion

Occupational therapists' research engagement is influenced by their personality and character traits, specifically love of learning, curiosity, and creativity. It is, therefore, imperative to consider intrinsic values when developing future research capacity building strategies to increase research engagement and support professional practice.

Consumer and Community Involvement

Clinicians were involved in the development stage with five clinicians providing feedback on the survey tool.

PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY

Research is like being a detective. You start with something you want to learn more about, or a problem you want to solve, like a mystery. Researchers uncover new knowledge through gathering clues, people's opinions, and other types of information. They put it all together to find answers. Clinical research can help health professionals, like occupational therapists, find answers to understand the types of treatments that will help their clients the most. The issue is, many occupational therapists do not know how to do research and often do not do it. In our study, we wanted to understand why this is. We found out that if an occupational therapist has a love of learning, curiosity, and creativity, they are more likely to be interested in doing research. We plan to use our findings to develop research strategies that can help occupational therapists undertake more research, because research and new knowledge helps the therapist, their workplace and their clients. In the future, we aim to design research activities that engage therapists' love of learning, curiosity, and creativity. Because after all, a little bit of detective work done collaboratively can go a long way to improving care and the wider health-care system.

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职业治疗研究者和非研究者的人格和性格特征差异：一项横断面研究

尽管对研究有很高的兴趣，但许多职业治疗师并不从事研究活动。了解职业治疗师的人格和性格特征如何影响研究参与，对于设计有效的研究能力建设策略至关重要。本研究旨在识别和比较澳大利亚职业治疗研究人员和非研究人员的人格和性格特征。方法采用修正版的诚实谦卑性、情绪性、外向性、亲和性、尽责性、经验开放性人格量表（HEXACO-PI-R-60）和行动价值量表（VIA-IS-72）进行探索性横断面研究。研究人员和非研究人员的人格和性格特征差异及其与研究投入的相关性。采用因子分析对修改后问卷的心理测量特性进行检验。结果共有47名研究人员和78名非研究人员参与了在线调查。各组学生的学习热情（P = 0.01）、好奇心（P = 0.03）和创造力（P = 0.02）的差异均有统计学意义。这些特征与研究投入显著相关。非研究人员组的参与者在完美主义和组织方面得分更高；然而，结果没有统计学意义。因子分析表明，修改后的人格问卷获得了与原始版本相似的心理测量特性和因子矩阵。结论职业治疗师的研究投入受其人格特征的影响，特别是对学习的热爱、好奇心和创造力。因此，在制定未来的研究能力建设战略以增加研究参与和支持专业实践时，必须考虑内在价值。消费者和社区参与临床医生参与了开发阶段，五名临床医生对调查工具提供了反馈。研究工作就像侦探。你从你想了解更多的东西开始，或者你想解决的问题，比如一个谜团。研究人员通过收集线索、人们的意见和其他类型的信息来发现新知识。他们把这些信息放在一起寻找答案。临床研究可以帮助健康专业人士，如职业治疗师，找到答案，了解最能帮助他们的客户的治疗类型。问题是，许多职业治疗师不知道如何做研究，而且经常不去做。在我们的研究中，我们想了解为什么会这样。我们发现，如果一个职业治疗师热爱学习、好奇心和创造力，他们更有可能对研究感兴趣。我们计划利用我们的发现制定研究策略，帮助职业治疗师进行更多的研究，因为研究和新知识有助于治疗师、他们的工作场所和他们的客户。在未来，我们的目标是设计研究活动，以吸引治疗师对学习的热爱，好奇心和创造力。因为毕竟，合作完成的一点点侦查工作可以大大改善护理和更广泛的医疗保健系统。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Australian Occupational Therapy Journal 医学-康复医学

CiteScore

2.80

自引率

16.70%

发文量

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： The Australian Occupational Therapy Journal is a leading international peer reviewed publication presenting influential, high quality innovative scholarship and research relevant to occupational therapy. The aim of the journal is to be a leader in the dissemination of scholarship and evidence to substantiate, influence and shape policy and occupational therapy practice locally and globally. The journal publishes empirical studies, theoretical papers, and reviews. Preference will be given to manuscripts that have a sound theoretical basis, methodological rigour with sufficient scope and scale to make important new contributions to the occupational therapy body of knowledge. AOTJ does not publish protocols for any study design The journal will consider multidisciplinary or interprofessional studies that include occupational therapy, occupational therapists or occupational therapy students, so long as ‘key points’ highlight the specific implications for occupational therapy, occupational therapists and/or occupational therapy students and/or consumers.