Perceived lack of training moderates relationship between healthcare providers’ personality and sense of efficacy in trauma-informed care

Background and Objectives: Medical patients often have trauma histories that are not routinely assessed, which can adversely affect health outcomes. Despite growing awareness of this issue, there is limited understanding of factors that influence provider competency in trauma-informed care (TIC). The study examined healthcare providers’ personality traits in relation to their sense of TIC efficacy, taking into account perceived barriers to TIC and professional quality of life. Study Design: The study used cross-sectional survey methods to examine our central hypothesis that provider personality traits and perceived barriers to TIC would be associated with TIC-efficacy, and to explore interactions among study variables. Methods: Survey data were collected from 172 healthcare providers examining TIC knowledge, TIC-efficacy, perceived barriers to TIC, personality traits, and professional quality of life. Results: TIC-efficacy was positively correlated with “intellectence/openness” and inversely correlated with “neuroticism” and perceived lack of training as a barrier. “Intellectence/openness” interacted with perceived lack of training to predict TIC-efficacy, suggesting that providers with lower “intellectence/openness” report greater TIC-efficacy when lack of training is not perceived as a barrier. Conclusions: Provider personality traits and perceived barriers to TIC appear related to providers’ TIC-efficacy. Implications for overcoming barriers to TIC through training and implementation are discussed.