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.

Keywords

• Imposter Syndrome
• Underrepresented in Medicine (UIM)
• Workshop
• Case-Based Learning
• Interprofessional Education
• Diversity