Know Thyself: Natural and Adapted Behavior Styles of General and Plastic Surgery Residents.

BACKGROUND: Resident miscommunication and fractured team dynamics are associated with decreased quality of patient care. Interventions to improve resident communication and team coordination include behavioral assessments, which promote leadership and communication skills. METHODS: In this retrospective review, general and plastic surgery residents voluntarily completed the DISC (dominance, influence, steadiness, and compliance) behavioral assessment. This validated tool is composed of four behavioral categories: dominance (D), influence (I), steadiness (S), and compliance (C). It is used to classify an individual's natural and adapted behavior styles. Results were anonymously collected and analyzed using the Pearson chi-square test. RESULTS: Of 94 surgery residents, 84 completed the survey (89 percent): 43 men and 41 women. Surgery residents combined had a significantly higher percentage of natural C's compared to the general population (23 percent versus 14 percent; p = 0.02). The majority of surgery residents adapted to C in the work environment (39 versus 36 percent; p = 0.85). There was a significant difference in male and female general surgery adapted D profiles (4 percent versus 23 percent; p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The pressure of accuracy in surgical residency attracts natural C individuals. Residents without a natural C behavioral profile tend to adapt to the C profile. The ability to recognize behavior traits is crucial in surgical residency. Developing a better understanding of one's own behavior will provide insight into personal risk factors for miscommunication and inefficient team dynamics.

Does Behavioral Style Influence Learning Strategy in Health Professions Students?

Proficiency in areas of task completion, information processing, and time management are important attributes for successful academic performance and can be assessed using the Learning Assessment Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI). The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in learning strategies across four behavioral profiles using the DISC style analysis (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Compliance). Graduate health professions students (n=247) were administered the DISC and LASSI to assess study strategy categories based on their natural DISC behavioral style. A one-way ANOVA was used to assess differences for 10 LASSI category scores across the four DISC profiles; scores were also compared with national percentile scores. The D and C profiles were above the 75th percentile for information processing, but below the 50th percentile for self-testing. The S profile had significantly lower scores (p<0.005) for information processing and was below the 50th percentile for anxiety (i.e., higher anxiety). The I profile was below the 50th percentile for time management and concentration to academic tasks. The data are in close agreement with recognized behaviors specific for each behavioral style and suggest that behavioral style should be considered an important factor in academic performance.

The enigma of social support and occupational stress: source congruence and gender role effects.

Research on the potential ameliorating effects of social support on occupational stress produces weak, inconsistent, and even contradictory results. This study of 117 employees, mostly from a southern U.S. hospital supply company, examined potential moderators that were theorized might reduce the confusion: source congruence (congruence between sources of the stressor and of social support) and gender role. Congruence between the sources of stressors and of social support appeared to make little difference in determining the moderating or buffering effect of social support on the relationship between stressors and strain. Gender role, however, may moderate the relationship between social support and individual stains such that more feminine people react more strongly and positively to social support than more masculine people do.