Investigating feelings of imposterism in first-year medical student narratives

Imposter phenomenon (IP), feeling as if a person does not belong, has been reported in medical students at various rates. In medical literature, this phenomenon has often been defined as a 'syndrome', but other studies have described it as a dynamic experience that can have various impacts on different people at different time points. Although studies have linked IP with other phenomena such as burnout in residents and physicians, no studies have examined its aetiology nor how these feelings are experienced by medical students.

With the use of social identity theory as a framework, the authors analysed 233 reflective essays for elements of IP across eight cohorts of medical students from two institutions. Students responded to a prompt that asked: 'What was one part of your identity that you thought you would have to change in order to become a physician?' Included reflections were analysed using the framework method.

Elements of IP were identified in 121 reflections (52%) and were categorised into three major themes: (1) Comparing oneself to an idealised image of a medical student, (2) Comparing oneself to an idealised image of a physician and (3) Concerns about presentation of self to others. Each theme contained two or more sub-themes. Commonly, students discussed how their own personality traits, experiences, backgrounds and identities cast doubt on their sense of belonging in medicine.

The results of this study were consistent across both institutions, suggesting that imposter feelings are common among all first-year medical students. However, the extent of the impact of these feelings on their identity formation depends on the individual lived experiences of students and the context in which these feelings arise. Encouraging reflective journaling and sharing of stories from all stages of education can normalise imposter feelings during the development of the professional identity as a physician.