The stress of success: An online module to help first-year dental students cope with the Impostor Phenomenon

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.

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.

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 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.

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.