Five factor model personality factors moderated the effects of an intervention to enhance chronic disease management self-efficacy

Objectives. Peer led interventions can enhance patient self-efficacy for managing chronic illnesses, but little is known regarding the moderators or duration of their effects. We hypothesized Homing in on Health (HIOH), a variant of the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, would be most effective in patients high in neuroticism and low in extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and/or conscientiousness. Design. Analysis of data from subjects (N = 415) enrolled in an ongoing randomized controlled trial. Methods. Regression analyses were conducted to explore whether Five Factor Model (FFM) personality factors moderated the effects of HIOH, delivered in subjects' homes or via telephone, on disease management self-efficacy. Data were collected at 6 time points over the course of 1 year. Results. Compared with control and telephone HIOH, home HIOH significantly increased self-efficacy, an effect peaking at 6 weeks and fully attenuating by 1year. Moderation analyses revealed the benefit was confined to patients higher in neuroticism and/or lower in conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extraversion. Conclusions. A peer led intervention to enhance disease management self-efficacy had only short-term effects, and FFM personality factors moderated those effects. Measuring personality factors in chronically ill individuals may facilitate targeting of self-management interventions to those most likely to respond.