Impact of Personality Traits, Emotional Intelligence and Coping Strategies on Psychological Well-Being of Undergraduate Medical Students.

Psychological well-being (PWB) is a multifaceted dynamic concept that refers to a combination of feeling good and functioning effectively. It incorporates both hedonic (pleasure) and eudaemonic (fulfilment) happiness in the present as well as, contentment and satisfaction for the past along with optimism for the future [3]. The multiple facets of PWB include mutually interdependent dimensions such as self-acceptance, positive relations, autonomy in thought and action, environmental mastery, the sense of purpose in life and personal growth [4]. There is a strong possibility that many of the factors that influence PWB might not be the same as those implicated as contributory risk factors towards increased mental distress and behavioural problems. Hence, exploration of PWB is a promising new area of research in promoting positive mental health. Data will be collected using self-reported, pre-tested, online versions of questionnaires (in English Language) on psychological well-being, Big five personality traits, emotional intelligence and Coping Strategies. The questionnaires will be adapted in google forms, and the link for filling them up would be sent to the participating students in breaks from teaching schedule or after the completion of lectures. For each measure, a separate google form would be made. The subjects would be requested to submit the completed google forms for all questionnaires on the same day. Completion of the questionnaires will be voluntary and will not affect their progression in medical course. They will be asked to fill a case study form about their socio demographic scale details and history of any psychiatric illness (yes/no) and/or medication. They will be asked to fill the Ryff’s PWB scale, Big five international personality item pool (Big-5 IPIP), Trait emotional intelligence questionnaire short form (TEIQue-sf) and the brief COPE inventory in this order. Filling of all the questionnaires would take approximately 30-45 minutes. The present study has been planned with the aim of assessing the psychological well-being of the undergraduate students of our institute, and to investigate which specific personality traits, elements of emotional intelligence and the choice of coping strategy used by the subject is leading to deviation from well-being. To the best of our knowledge, till date no study has as yet attempted to take into consideration a cumulative effect of all these elements to examine psychological well-being in our country.

One of the key aspects of the study is the identification of modifiable traits with regards to personality and/or emotional intelligence and the choice of coping strategy which the subject can consciously modify so as to have a positive effect on the psychology of the subject.