Comparison of personality traits and resiliency in patients with AIDS and normal people

Abstract

Background: AIDS is one of the chronic and debilitating infectious diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate personality traits and resiliency in patients with AIDS and normal people. Materials and Methods: In this causal-comparative study, 30 patients with AIDS referred to the Behavioral Counseling Center of Imam Khomeini Hospital and Tehran Valfajr Health Center (in 2017) were selected by the accessible sampling method. Then, the normal group was selected among those referred to the health centers of Tehran Province by matching the variables of age, education, gender, employment and marriage status. The two groups were evaluated by the Big-Five Personality Inventory of Costa and McCrae (NEO-FFI) and Connor and Davidson resilience (CD-RISC) questionnaires. Results: The results of the current study showed no significant difference in the personality traits including "Extroversion", "Openness to Experience" and "Conscientiousness" between the two groups of AIDS and normal people (P>0.05). Also, people with AIDS obtained significantly higher scores in personality traits such as "Neuroticism" (P<0.05) and lower scores in "Agreeableness and resiliency" (P<0.05) compared to the normal people. Conclusion: People with AIDS had higher levels of neuroticism and lower levels of agreeableness and resiliency compared with normal people. It is recommended that these factors be considered in designing educational programs for AIDS patients.

Keywords

• AIDS
• Resilience
• Personality traits