Do I Belong Here? Confronting Imposter Syndrome at an Individual, Peer, and Institutional Level in Health Professionals

Abstract

Introduction: Imposter syndrome (IS) is a feeling of being an intellectual fraud and is common among health professionals, particularly those underrepresented in medicine. IS is accompanied by burnout, self-doubt, and beliefs of decreased success. This workshop aims to discuss the impact of IS and develop strategies to confront IS at the individual, peer, and institutional levels. Methods: During the 75-minute interactive workshop, participants listened to didactics and engaged in individual reflection, small-group case discussion, and large-group instruction. Workshop participants and facilitators included medical students, residents, fellows, faculty, staff, and program leadership. Anonymous postworkshop evaluations exploring participants' satisfaction and intentions to change their behavior were collected. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data, and content analysis was used to analyze participants' intentions to change their behavior. Results: The workshop was presented at three local academic conferences and accepted at one national conference. Data were collected from 92 participants. Ninety-two percent of participants felt the workshop met its objectives, and 90% felt the workshop was a valuable use of their time. Furthermore, 90% of participants stated they would apply information learned at the workshop in the future. The participants indicated an intent to change behavior on individual, peer, and institutional levels, while recognizing that barriers exist at all those levels. Discussion: This workshop proved to be an effective means to discuss strategies on how to address IS at the individual, peer, and institutional levels. The materials can be adapted for relevance to various audiences.

Supporting the future of medicine: Student mental health services in medical school

“…While these aspects are important, a focus on wellness in the absence of a similar focus on and normalization of mental health treatment may lead to feelings of inadequacy, shame, or imposter syndrome when students are unable to independently "be well." (16) Furthermore, it can also increase stigma around trainees who may be considered "unwell," including those with disabilities (17). In an AAMC report, learners with disabilities described many barriers within their medical education, including lack of clear policies/procedures and lack of access to health care and wellness supports (18).…”

Improving wellness: Defeating Impostor syndrome in medical education using an interactive reflective workshop

“…Other published educational interventions include a facilitator-guided 30- to 45-minute intervention in internal medicine residents, a three-hour educational session with new internal medical interns, an educational workshop with clinical nurse specialist students and an online module consisting of a 14-minute educational video to dental students [ 21 – 24 ]. In comparison to the previous studies, our study had a more robust study population of 178 compared to 98 participants by Rivera and 21 by participants by Baumann [ 1 , 24 ]. Our study builds on the previous studies by not only showing an increase in knowledge of IS but also enabled participants to reflect on risk factors that predisposed to them to IS and the impact of IS on personal, social, and professional outcomes.…”

“…Publication on effective tools to intervene and confront IS are limited. Rivera et al published on a 75-minute workshop that involved individual reflection, small-group case discussion, and large-group instruction and concluded that the workshop was an effective means to discuss strategies on how to address IS at the individual, peer, and institutional levels (1). Other published educational interventions include a facilitator-guided 30-to 45-minute intervention in internal medicine residents, a three-hour educational session with new internal medical interns, an educational workshop with clinical nurse specialist students and an online module consisting of a 14-minute educational video to dental students [21][22][23][24].…”

“…Impostor syndrome (IS) is a psychological term characterized by chronic feelings of self-doubt and internalized fear of being exposed as an intellectual fraud. Sufferers are unable to internalize and own their successes, accomplishments, competence, or skills [ 1 ]. People with IS struggle with accurately ascribing their performance to their actual competence and tend to attribute successes to external factors such as luck or receiving help from others and attribute setbacks as evidence of their professional inadequacy [ 2 , 3 ].…”

A Call to Leadership

“…23 Improved mentorship and sponsorship for these groups will prove essential to overcoming this barrier within the pathways that exist toward leadership roles. [24][25] The Council for Academic Family Medicine (CAFM) Leadership Development Task Force identified 4 dominant leadership domains that exist in academic medicine. These pathways include clinical, undergraduate and graduate medical education, and research.…”