Context Professors often spend a great deal of time counseling poorly performing students, which limits the time dedicated to high achievers. This may be problematic, as psychiatrists have determined that gifted students may be susceptible to feelings of inadequacy despite positive external evidence. Dr. Pauline Clance coined the term “Impostor Phenomenon” (IP) to describe these traits. Objective Dental students, while academically successful, may be prone to IP and lack appropriate coping strategies. The goal of this project was to create and publish an online module to educate dental students about IP and provide 6 coping mechanisms. Design After viewing the video at the beginning of the semester, students completed the Clance IP Scale to determine the prevalence of IP thoughts. This was repeated at the end of the semester to determine the impact of the online training module. Results There was a decrease in postsemester scores from 63.44 (±14.92) to 59.12 (±14.56), n = 103, 86% response rate, dependent samples within subjects t‐test, P < 0.001). The percentage of students reporting intense impostor experiences decreased from 13.6% to 4.9%. Females exhibited significantly higher scores than males, but there was no statistically significant impact of age or race on results. The most common reported coping strategies were a reduction in time spent on nonessential tasks and the use of scheduling to prevent procrastination. Conclusion These results suggest that an online training module can improve awareness of the Impostor Phenomenon and help high‐achieving students to cope with their stress and feelings of inadequacy.

The aims of this study were to evaluate dental students' clinical shade-matching outcomes (from subjective use of shade guide) with an objective electronic shade-matching tool (spectrophotometer); to assess patients', students', and supervising faculty members' satisfaction with the clinical shade-matching outcomes; and to assess clinicians' support for use of the spectrophotometer to improve esthetic outcomes. A total of 103 volunteer groups, each consisting of patient, dental student, and supervising faculty member at the University of Louisville, were recruited to participate in the study in 2015. Using the spectrophotometer, clinical shade-matching outcome (ΔE) and laboratory shade-matching outcome (ΔE) were calculated. Two five-point survey items were used to assess the groups' satisfaction with the clinical shade-matching outcome and support for an objective electronic shade-matching tool in the student clinic. The results showed that both ΔE (6.5±2.4) and ΔE (4.3±2.0) were outside the clinical acceptability threshold ΔE values of 2.7, when visual shade-matching method (subjective usage of shade guide) was used to fabricate definitive restorations. Characteristics of the patients, dental students, supervising faculty members, and restorations had minimal to no effect on the ΔE The patients, dental students, and supervising faculty members generally had positive opinions about the clinical shade-matching outcome, despite the increased ΔE observed. Overall, clinical shade-matching outcomes in this school need further improvement, but the patients' positive opinions may indicate the need to revisit the acceptability threshold ΔE value of 2.7 in the academic setting.

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Professors often spend a great deal of time counseling poorly‐performing students, which limits the time dedicated to high achievers. This may be problematic, as psychiatrists have determined that successful students may be susceptible to feelings of inadequacy despite positive external evidence. Dr. Pauline Clance coined the term “Impostor Phenomenon (IP)” to describe these traits. It was desired to create an online module as an intervention to educate first‐year D.M.D. students about IP and provide six coping mechanisms. After viewing the video at the beginning of the semester, students completed the Clance IP Scale to determine the prevalence of IP thoughts. This was repeated at the end of the semester to determine the impact of the online training module. There was a decrease in post‐semester scores from 63.44 (SD 14.92) to 59.12 (SD 14.56, n=103, 86% response rate, paired‐samples t‐test, p < 0.001). The percentage of students reporting intense impostor experiences decreased from 13.6% to 4.9%. Females exhibited statistically significant higher scores than males on both the pre‐ and post‐semester IP surveys. However, there was no detected significant impact of age or race on results. The most common coping strategies reported by students were a reduction in time spent on non‐essential tasks and the use of scheduling to prevent procrastination. Ten students also reported seeking professional help through mental health services for their IP thoughts. These results suggest that an online training module can improve awareness of the Impostor Phenomenon and help high‐achieving students to cope with their stress and feelings of inadequacy.