Assessment of adversity quotient®: decoding strength and struggle among faculty members of a medical university: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the Adversity Quotient® (AQ®) among medical teaching faculty members by evaluating overall AQ® and its dimensions - Control, Ownership, Reach, and Endurance - while analyzing the influence of demographic variables and examining interrelationships among the CORE components. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was carried out at Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU), Larkana, Pakistan, between August 2024 and January 2025. A stratified random sample of 157 full-time faculty members, proportionately drawn from six constituent colleges and institutes, was recruited, with eligibility requiring at least 2 years of service. AQ® was measured using the validated Stoltz Adversity Response Profile, and demographic information was obtained via a standardized proforma. All data were entered into IBM SPSS Statistics v30.0 and summarized with descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, and frequencies). Spearman's rank-order correlation was used to explore associations between AQ® scores (overall and CORE subscales) and demographic variables, with two-tailed significance set at P < 0.05. RESULTS: The mean total AQ® among faculty was 138.4 ± 20.4, indicating an overall average resilience level. Most respondents scored average in Control (36.3%), Reach (38.9%), and Endurance (46.5%), but a significant proportion (42.7%) scored low in Ownership, highlighting a potential area for development. No significant correlations were found between AQ® and age, gender, education level, or academic rank. However, marital status and work setting showed weak but significant associations with certain CORE dimensions, particularly Control and Ownership. Length of service was positively correlated with total AQ®. Notably, strong internal consistency was observed between paired dimensions - Control with Ownership (ρ = 0.484) and Reach with Endurance (ρ = 0.289), both statistically significant (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This assessment of AQ® offers meaningful insight into faculty members' adaptive capacity when facing challenges. The notably low scores in Control and Ownership highlight key areas for targeted development. Enhancing these dimensions through structured interventions may significantly strengthen overall resilience, empowering faculty to navigate adversity more effectively in both professional and personal domains. GRAPHIC ABSTRACT: Graphic abstract available at: http://links.lww.com/MS9/B279.