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Exploring reasons for MD-PhD trainees' experiences of impostor phenomenon
Devasmita Chakraverty1, Jose E Cavazos2, Donna B Jeffe3
1Ravi J. Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation, India Institute of Management Ahmedabad, KLMDC# 36, Old Campus, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 380 015, India. devasmitac@iima.ac.in.
BMC Medical Education
|April 30, 2022
Summary
MD-PhD trainees experience significant impostor phenomenon, feeling like frauds despite achievements. Bias and micro-aggressions in training contribute to these feelings and challenge physician-scientist identity.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Psychology
- Physician-Scientist Training
Background:
- MD-PhD programs are highly competitive and stressful due to multi-phase training.
- Challenges in MD-PhD training can increase self-doubt and anxiety.
- Impostor phenomenon (IP) is feeling like a fraud, attributing success to external factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine impostor phenomenon experiences in MD-PhD trainees.
- To identify reasons trainees attribute their impostor feelings to during training.
Main Methods:
- Online survey using the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS).
- Semi-structured interviews with respondents reporting impostor phenomenon.
- Thematic analysis of interview transcripts using constant comparative method and analytic induction.
Main Results:
- Nine MD-PhD students/residents reported moderate-to-intense impostor phenomenon scores (CIPS range: 46-96).
- Four themes emerged: professional identity formation, fear of evaluation, minority status, and program transitions.
- Participants struggled with physician-scientist identity and belonging in medicine/research.
Conclusions:
- Bias and micro-aggressions in social interactions negatively impact physician-scientist identity formation.
- MD-PhD program structures, cultures, and social dynamics can foster alienation and impostor phenomenon.
- Further examination is needed, especially for diverse and underrepresented trainees.
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