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Understanding the impostor phenomenon in graduate nursing students
Abstract
Intuitively, nurse educators know that graduate students in both master’s and doctoral programs question their ability to succeed. The impostor phenomenon (IP) is an internalized sense of inadequacy and fear of being seen as a fraud in the presence of external indicators of authentic achievement, and experienced by high achieving, successful individuals. Fifty-three percent (49/93) of graduate students completed the CIPS survey, and 11 master’s (regular streams & nurse practitioner) and two doctoral students participated in focus group interviews. The quantitative results showed that 88 % of participants experienced moderate to intense impostor phenomenon. Two themes emerged in the qualitative analysis: (i) experiencing the imposter phenomenon and (ii) managing feeling like an impostor. Descriptions of IP were similar across the three groups of participants. This research provides a foundational understanding of how IP is experienced by graduate nursing students.
... International prospective register of systematic reviews individuals doubt their accomplishments and fear being exposed as frauds, imposter phenomenon is also known as imposter feeling or imposter syndrome. Moods associated with this syndrome include anxiety, self-doubt, and stress, and it can lead to a persistent fear of failure or being unmasked as incompetent (Scanlan et al., 2023). ...
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT "Imposter syndrome is a way of thinking in which someone worries one's abilities, capabilities, or achievements and has an insatiable fear of being recognized as a" fraudulent conduct People who suffer from imposter syndrome continue to believe they are frauds and are unworthy of all they have accomplished, even in the face of outside proof of their abilities. People who suffer from imposter syndrome mistakenly believe that their achievements are the result of serendipity, good timing, or tricking people into believing they are smarter than they actually are. A person's perspective on their capacity for achievement must be altered in order to overcome imposter syndrome. Recognizing their accomplishments and expertise, as well as reassuring each other that they gained their position in their educational or professional setting are crucial because imposters often feel like outsiders. It takes more than just realizing your value and potential to get over imposter syndrome. Your teams, leaders, and executives need to follow suit. Your mental health and well-being must be given equal priority to your physical prowess and output.
"Imposter syndrome is a way of thinking in which someone worries one's abilities,
capabilities, or achievements and has an insatiable fear of being recognized as a"
fraudulent conduct People who suffer from imposter syndrome continue to believe
they are frauds and are unworthy of all they have accomplished, even in the face of
outside proof of their abilities. People who suffer from imposter syndrome
mistakenly believe that their achievements are the result of serendipity, good
timing, or tricking people into believing they are smarter than they actually are. A
person's perspective on their capacity for achievement must be altered in order to
overcome imposter syndrome. Recognizing their accomplishments and expertise,
as well as reassuring each other that they gained their position in their educational
or professional setting are crucial because imposters often feel like outsiders. It
takes more than just realizing your value and potential to get over imposter
syndrome. Your teams, leaders, and executives need to follow suit. Your mental
health and well-being must be given equal priority to your physical prowess and
output.
To effectively navigate today's complex and rapidly changing health care environments, nurses require a high level of knowledge, sound psychomotor skills, diverse thinking and reasoning abilities, and a strong professional identity. The evidence showed that programs that offer students focused clinical practice experiences and offer students opportunities to ‘think like a nurse’ enable them to become sound practitioners. Faculty and staff at one mid-sized research-intensive university in Western Canada, engaged in an iterative process of rethinking the theoretical and pedagogical underpinnings of a BSN curriculum for educating nurses for the complexity of today's practice.
Constructivist learning theory was chosen as the main underpinning of the revised curriculum. Furthermore, transformational learning theory guided the selection of several pedagogical approaches utilized throughout the program with the goal of inviting critical reflection and encouraging the development of competent, compassionate, ethical, and professional nurses. Additionally, we employed an innovative approach to clinical practicums where the process of learning is both integrated and intentional, and students are mentored to use prior knowledge in their decisions and clinical reasoning.
Aim/Purpose: This mixed-methods research study examined impostor phenomenon during postdoctoral training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through the following research question: “What are the manifestations of the impostor phenomenon experienced during postdoctoral training in STEM?” Background: The impostor phenomenon occurs when competent, high-achieving students and professionals believe that they are fraud and will be exposed eventually. It involves fear of failure, lack of authenticity, feeling fake or fraud-like, denial of one’s competence, and is linked to lower self-esteem, mental health consequences, and lack of belonging. Methodology: This study was conducted with US-based postdoctoral trainees (or postdocs) using mixed-methods approach. The study examined aspects of impostor phenomenon among 43 postdocs by converging survey data using Clance Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) and qualitative data from semi-structured Impostor interviews from the same participants. Both convenience and snowball sampling were used. Majority of the participants were White, female, and from science disciplines. Interview findings were organized into themes using constant comparative method and analytic induction. Contribution: Findings pointed to the need for better designing professional development programs for postdocs that would: 1) address fears and insecurities due to impostor-feelings, 2) normalize conversations around perceived failure, judgment, and one’s lack of belonging, and 3) provide support with networking, mentoring, academic communication, and mental health challenges. Findings: Survey results indicated moderate to intense impostor-feelings; interviews found six triggers of the impostor phenomenon during postdoctoral training: 1. not pursuing new things, 2. not making social connections, 3. impaired academic communication, 4. not applying, 5. procrastination and mental health, and 6. feeling undeserving and unqualified. Current findings were compared with prior findings of impostor-triggers among PhD students who also experienced the first three of these challenges during doctoral training: challenges to applying newly learnt knowledge in other domains, reaching out for help, and developing skills in academic communication verbally and through academic writing. Recommendations for Practitioners: The office of postdoctoral affairs could design professional development programs and individual development plans for those experiencing the impostor phenomenon, focusing on strengthening skills (e.g., academic writing) in particular. There was an environmental and systemic dimension to the imposter phenomenon, perhaps more prevalent among women in STEM. The academy could devise ways to better support scholars who experience this phenomenon. Recommendation for Researchers: Research characterizing the qualitative characteristics of the impostor phenomenon across the STEM pipeline (undergrads, PhD students, postdocs, and faculty) would help understand if the reasons and manifestations of this phenomenon vary among differing demographics of students and professionals. Impact on Society: Organizations could focus on the training, development, mental health, and stressors among postdocs in STEM, particularly by focusing on career transition points (e.g., PhD to postdoc transition, postdoc to faculty transition), especially for those at-risk of experiencing this phenomenon and therefore dropping out. Future Research: Future research could examine how to manage or overcome the impostor phenomenon for students and professionals, focus on disciplines outside STEM, and investigate how socialization opportunities may be compromised due to this phenomenon. Longitudinal studies might characterize the phenomenon better than those that focused on the impostor phenomenon at a single time-point.
This article analyses the relationship between impostor phenomenon and motivation in academic women. These highly successful academics often express feelings of self-doubt, lack of belongingness, and incompetence, ideas echoed within motivation literature. This project establishes IP prevalence within 1,326 self-identified academic women and examines the relationship between IP and motivation (operationalized by measures from Expectancy-Value Theory, Attribution Theory, and Self-Determination Theory). Findings indicate elevated levels of IP amongst our female academic sample. Statistically significant relationships were observed between IP and measures of motivation, including negative relationships between IP and sense of relatedness, as well as IP and attributions of success and failure. Results also indicate a combination of feelings of competence and relatedness, attributions to luck, ability, ease, and effort, and both cost and utility values predict 57.6% of the variance in IP sum score. Implications for graduate and early career supports, as well as systemic and cultural changes are discussed.
The nurse educator shortage continues without an increase in the numbers of graduate prepared nurses. Studies identified challenges in recruitment of nursing graduate students. No studies explore the experiences of nurses during graduate education. The framework used was Bandura's self-efficacy theory. The population for this study included 15 nurse educators with a master's or doctoral degree currently teaching in an undergraduate or graduate program in a western Canadian city. In semi-structured interviews, participants shared their experiences. Two themes emerged from the data: i) the hurdles of learning and ii) being a graduate student. The purpose of this article is to report the findings of faculty members' experiences as graduate students. Understanding these experiences will help graduate faculty understand how graduate students develop self-efficacy throughout their graduate programs. Moreover, findings of this study will help graduate students succeed in a graduate program. Finally, issues related to recruitment and retention are addressed.
The recruitment of Graduates into the nursing profession is seen as advantageous in the academic literature. Conversely educated nurses are often portrayed in the media as “too posh to wash”. We would argue these conflicting discourses have a negative effect on graduate entry nurse education. Graduate nursing students may be particularly susceptible to “Imposter Phenomenon” a concept that describes an "internal experience of intellectual phoniness" exhibited by individuals who appear successful to others, but internally feel incompetent. We would like to encourage debate through the presentation of a small set of pilot data that established that 74% of the participants had frequent to intense experiences of Imposter Phenomenon. Students experienced feelings of failure despite consistent high achievement. Our findings and the prevalent negative rhetoric surrounding highly educated student nurses raise concerns regarding the impact of the anti-intellectualism on the Graduate entry student's perception of self. Others may argue that this could simply be a 'natural' or expected level of anxiety in a time of transition that has no lasting impact. We debate this issue in relation to the existing literature to encourage critical dialogue.
The transition shock sometimes associated with moving from student to registered nurse can lead to feelings of self-doubt and insecurity especially with the increased expectations and responsibilities that registration brings. Known as Imposter Phenomena, individuals often express a lack of self-confidence, uncertainty in their abilities or that others have an over inflated opinion of them.
Aim: The aim of this study is to examine the extent at which imposter phenomenon is evident in four final year nursing student cohorts in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Design: A survey design.
Settings: The study took place at 4 higher education institutes – two metropolitan campuses and two regional campuses between October 2014 and February 2015 in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. A sample of 223 final year nursing students undertaking nationally accredited nursing programmes were approached.
Results: Each cohort exhibited mild to moderate feelings of Imposter Phenomena. A positive weak correlation between imposter phenomena and preparedness for practice was found. The New Zealand cohort scored higher than both the Australian and United Kingdom cohorts on both feelings of imposterism and preparedness for practice.
Conclusions: Nursing students possess internalised feelings which suggest their performance and competence once qualified could be compromised. There is some speculation that the respective curriculums may have some bearing on preparing students for registration and beyond. It is recommended that educational programmes designed for this student cohort should be mindful of this internal conflict and potential external hostility.
The impostor phenomenon (IP) is increasingly recognized as an important psychological construct for career development, yet empirical research on how it functions in this domain is sparse. We investigated in what way impostor feelings are related to the fear of failure, fear of success, self-esteem, and the career-development aspects career planning, career striving, and the motivation to lead. We conducted two studies with independent samples of university students (N = 212) in a laboratory study and working professionals (N = 110) in an online study. In both samples, impostor feelings were fostered by fear of failure, fear of success, and low self-esteem and they decreased career planning, career striving, and the motivation to lead. A path analysis showed that impostor feelings had the most negative effects on career planning and career striving in students and on the motivation to lead in working professionals. The results suggest that the IP is relevant to career development in different ways at different career stages. Practical implications and interventions to reduce the negative effects of impostor feelings on career development are discussed.
This study qualitatively explored the imposter phenomenon (IP) among 29 emerging adults who were transitioning into professional life. A grounded theory was developed that described IP, internal and external contributing factors, and IP's effect in terms of performance and affective reactions. Implications for counselors of emerging adults are discussed.
Attention to faculty development, especially factors influencing faculty satisfaction and performance, has increased in the last decade. While a significant focus has been on contextual factors (i.e., tenure policies, mentoring, work-life integration), fewer studies have examined individual psychological factors especially in the field of human resource development. This descriptive study addresses a particular focus in faculty development by examining the prevalence of faculty experiences of imposter phenomenon, IP, (the experience of fraudulent thoughts and feelings and the inability to attribute and internalize personal achievement), how it affects their perceived emotional exhaustion (a dimension of job burnout) and their reported coping skills. Results of the study suggest that faculty (n=61) do experience moderate levels of IP with the highest reported by untenured faculty. Results also indicate that faculty emotional exhaustion is positively related to IP, and faculty reporting moderate-high levels of IP also reported greater use of adaptive coping skills to address imposter thoughts. Faculty also identified the important role of mentoring at tempering imposter tendencies.
The Imposter Phenomenon (IP) is an observed anxiety caused by an individual's feelings of fraudulence, fear of being exposed as a fraud, and inability to internalize personal achievement. This study measures the incidence of the IP among librarians at college and research institutions in the United States and Canada and seeks to identify factors that contribute to its frequency. One in eight librarians reported above average IP scores. Younger librarians and those with less longevity experience IP feelings at a higher rate than more experienced counterparts. Also included is a discussion of how to lessen the impact of IP feelings.
The term "impostor phenomenon" is used to designate an internal experience of intellectual phoniness that appears to be particularly prevalent and intense among a select sample of high achieving women. Certain early family dynamics and later introjection of societal sex-role stereotyping appear to contribute significantly to the development of the impostor phenomenon. Despite outstanding academic and professional accomplishments, women who experience the impostor phenomenon persist in believing that they are really not bright and have fooled anyone who thinks otherwise. Numerous achievements, which one might expect to provide ample objective evidence of superior intellectual functioning, do not appear to affect the impostor belief. Four factors that contribute to the maintenance of impostor feelings over time are explored. Therapeutic approaches found to be effective in helping women change the impostor self-concept are described. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Newly Qualified Professional Nurses (NQPNs) require support while transitioning from student to professional nurse. Nurse residency programmes guided by competent facilitators provide such support. We developed a conceptual framework for a person-centred nurse residency programme. This qualitative interpretive descriptive study was conducted in three phases. In phase 1, we assessed the support needs of purposively selected NQPNs as well as senior professional nurses. Data were collected using multiple methods and analysed during a consensus workshop held in Phase 2. In Phase 3, we developed a conceptual framework which was validated by six nurse education experts. The final framework comprised of four domains: learning outcomes, learning processes, learning environment, prerequisites of the facilitator, and was underpinned by the educational theories of constructivism and person-centeredness. Advocates of nurse residency programmes should recognise that these domains are interrelated and aim to achieve person-centred support for NQPNs.
Some individuals report feeling inauthentic at work, and fear being found out as a fake or as someone who does not deserve their status or reputation. Termed the imposter phenomenon (IP), this pervasive feeling has recently gained traction and recognition in organizational research. However, the relationship between IP and performance is still not well understood. We present two studies that explore the relationship between IP, performance, and gender under two different conditions: feedback (Study 1, N = 268) and accountability (Study 2, N = 250). Results indicate that male IPs react significantly more negatively under conditions of negative feedback and high accountability. These findings reveal a complex relationship between IP and gender which demonstrate that imposters’ gender could potentially exacerbate the negative effects of IP on work outcomes.
The Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale was designed to measure the concept that individuals are successful by external standards but have an illusion of personal incompetence. The scale assesses components of the phenomenon such as ideas about self-doubt and achieving success by chance. Psychometric properties of the scale were examined based on a sample of engineering college students. Internal consistency reliability and construct validity via confirmatory factor analysis were examined. The scale scores had satisfactory internal consistency reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the original theoretical model may be problematic and the factor structure requires additional consideration. Implications and future directions are discussed.
The shortage of graduate-level prepared nurses is reaching critical levels. Combined with an anticipated wave of faculty retirements, a relatively older graduate student body, and an insufficient number of graduates at the Masters' and doctoral levels, the recruitment of more and younger students into graduate programs in nursing has become a priority for the profession. Current understanding of why undergraduate nursing students choose to pursue graduate studies in nursing remains vague. A non-experimental descriptive correlational study was designed and 87 useable surveys were collected from fourth-year baccalaureate nursing students at a large South-Western Ontario University (response rate = 67%). The influence of student valuation of graduate studies and self-efficacy (SE) for graduate studies on student intention to pursue graduate studies in nursing was clearly demonstrated with this study (R(2) = .52). Implications for nursing education include working towards undergraduate curricula that enhance students' valuation of and SE for graduate studies in nursing.
Today's nursing programs are struggling to accommodate the changing needs of the health care environment and need to make changes in how students are taught. Using constructivism theory, whereby learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current or past knowledge, leaders in nursing education can make a paradigm shift toward concept-based curricula. This article presents a summary and analysis of constructivism and an innovative application of its active-learning principles to curriculum development, specifically for the education of nursing students.
The imposter phenomenon describes individuals who at times feel as if they are imposters in their chosen profession. Individuals experiencing the phenomenon have a deep feeling that they are fooling everyone. The title of clinical nurse specialist (CNS) in itself may foster misinterpretations and false beliefs in oneself or others. The term "specialist" implies expertise in the five subroles of the CNS (educator, consultant, research, clinician and manager). Feelings of imposture within the CNS role can precipitate or exacerbate low self-esteem and lead to ineffective role implementation. The phenomenon must be recognized in the CNS and management strategies instituted. Management strategies include peer support, CNS mentoring and self-provided positive reinforcement. Further research is essential to document the existence of the phenomenon within the CNS role and the creation of effective management strategies to prevent or alleviate it.
The Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS; Clance, 1985) was compared to the newly developed Perceived Fraudulence Scale (Kolligian & Sternberg, 1991). The two scales were found to have high internal consistency and to correlate in a similar manner with other measures. Further, discriminant validity evidence for the Impostor Phenomenon (IP) was provided by comparing the CIPS to measures of depression, self-esteem, social anxiety, and self-monitoring. The IP was related to, but substantially discriminable from, these constructs. Finally, construct validity evidence for the CIPS was provided through principal components analysis that yielded three stable factors: Fake, Discount, and Luck.
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