Personality Traits of British Hospice Volunteers

In total, 120 British female hospice volunteers completed the NEO five-factor inventory (NEO-FFI) of Costa Jr and McCrae. 1 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 1 and emerging British NEO-FFI norms for adult females, 2 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. 3 Implications for the recruitment of British hospice volunteers are discussed.