the relationship of personality characteristics and burnout among nurses

background: people's personality and psychological factors usually affects job satisfaction or job dissatisfaction and so level of burnout. in this study the role of personality characteristics in nurses' burnout is examined. methods: it is a correlation study. the statistic population is consisted of all nurses in a state hospital of shahr-e kord who've been working there during 2007. one hundred of them were selected by simple random method and then maslach burnout inventory (mbi) (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, reduced personal accomplishment) and neo personality characteristic (neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness to experience) questionnaires were distributed among them. out of 100, 75 questionnaires were completed and returned. also multiple regression method was used to statistically examine the relation between personality characteristics and burnout. results: the study findings showed that neuroticism has positive relation with emotional exhaustion and extraversion has negative relation with emotional exhaustion (p < 0.05). neuroticism has a positive relation with depersonalization and agreeableness has a negative relation with depersonalization (p < 0.05). extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness have negative relation with reduced personal accomplishment (p < 0.05). all of these relationships were meaningful. conclusion: since nurses' health plays as an important role in effectiveness of their health care for patients, it is important to consider their personality characteristics, because incongruity between personality and work place increases their burnout. key words: job stress, burnout, personality characteristics.