Personality traits of British hospice volunteers

Abstract

In total, 120 British female hospice volunteers completed the NEO five-factor inventory (NEO-FFI) of Costa Jr and McCrae. The NEO-FFI measures the so-called big 5 personality traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Compared to both American NEO-FFI norms for adult females and emerging British NEO-FFI norms for adult females, the hospice volunteers scored significantly lower, on average, in neuroticism and significantly higher, on average, in agreeableness and conscientiousness. No significant differences were found on any of the 5 traits between the British female hospice volunteers' scores and the NEO-FFI scores previously collected from a sample of Canadian female hospice palliative care volunteers. Implications for the recruitment of British hospice volunteers are discussed.

Keywords: United Kingdom; big five; personality; recruitment; residential hospices; volunteers.