IMPROV-ing The Impostor Phenomenon

NCT05230030 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 30194
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 200
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The impostor phenomenon refers to feelings of self-doubt and fraudulence in one's own abilities, despite the presence of external evidence to suggest otherwise. Symptoms of the impostor phenomenon can impede achievement of career-related goals in medical trainees and impact resilience, stress levels, and burnout. If these symptoms go unnoticed, they could progress to a severity that threatens sustained wellness among medical trainees. Our research questions are: 1) Is the time of the academic year (e.g., beginning, middle, end) associated with severity in impostor phenomenon as measured by the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) in medical trainees at the University of Toronto? 2) Is participation in improvisation workshops over the course of an academic year a feasible intervention to mitigate symptoms of impostor phenomenon in medical trainees at the University of Toronto? Combined, our two-part study will explore peak risk periods of impostor phenomenon and whether improvisation workshops are a feasible intervention to address this.

Conditions

Impostor Phenomenon

Keywords

Medical trainee; Wellness; Resilience; Burnout; Stress; Physician wellness; Medical education; Observational cohort

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Impostor phenomenon score

  Score measured by the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale; scores can range from 20-100, with higher scores indicating more intense symptoms of impostor phenomenon

  3 months

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Resilience score

  3 months

• Perceived stress score

  3 months

• Burnout

  3 months

Study Arms (2)

Observational

NO INTERVENTION

Improvisation Workshops

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will take part in an improvisation curriculum containing a uniquely designed series of flexibly-timed improvisation workshops administered during the study period. Using published guidelines, workshops will have groups of approximately 10 study participants and last on average 2 hours under the instruction of an expert medical improvisation facilitator.

Behavioral: Improvisation Workshop

Interventions

Improvisation Workshop BEHAVIORAL

Each improvisation workshop will involve a series of exercises derived from an improvisation game book previously developed by study investigators, followed by a reflective debrief of the experience.

Improvisation Workshops

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Have official registration with the University of Toronto Undergraduate or Postgraduate Medical Education offices

You may not qualify if:

• Non-fulltime student status

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Health Network, Toronto: lead
• University of Toronto: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University Health Network

Toronto, Ontario, M5T 2S8, Canada

Location

Related Publications (9)

• Mullangi S, Jagsi R. Imposter Syndrome: Treat the Cause, Not the Symptom. JAMA. 2019 Aug 6;322(5):403-404. doi: 10.1001/jama.2019.9788. No abstract available.

  PMID: 31386138 BACKGROUND

• LaDonna KA, Ginsburg S, Watling C. "Rising to the Level of Your Incompetence": What Physicians' Self-Assessment of Their Performance Reveals About the Imposter Syndrome in Medicine. Acad Med. 2018 May;93(5):763-768. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002046.

  PMID: 29116983 BACKGROUND

• Gottlieb M. More than meets the eye: The impact of imposter syndrome on feedback receptivity. Med Educ. 2021 Feb;55(2):144-145. doi: 10.1111/medu.14412. Epub 2020 Nov 18. No abstract available.

  PMID: 33155297 BACKGROUND

• Gottlieb M, Chung A, Battaglioli N, Sebok-Syer SS, Kalantari A. Impostor syndrome among physicians and physicians in training: A scoping review. Med Educ. 2020 Feb;54(2):116-124. doi: 10.1111/medu.13956. Epub 2019 Nov 6.

  PMID: 31692028 BACKGROUND

• Clance PR, Imes SA. The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice. 1978;15(3):241. doi:10.1037/h0086006

  BACKGROUND

• Clance P. The Impostor Phenomenon: Overcoming The Fear That Haunts Your Success. Atlanta, Ga.: Peachtree Publishers; 1985.

  BACKGROUND

• Connor KM, Davidson JR. Development of a new resilience scale: the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Depress Anxiety. 2003;18(2):76-82. doi: 10.1002/da.10113.

  PMID: 12964174 BACKGROUND

• Maslach C, Jackson S, Leiter M. Maslach Burnout Inven- tory Manual. 3rd ed. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press; 1996.

  BACKGROUND

• Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R. A global measure of perceived stress. J Health Soc Behav. 1983 Dec;24(4):385-96. No abstract available.

  PMID: 6668417 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

imposter syndrome; Burnout, Psychological

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Stress, Psychological; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Officials

• Esther Bui, MD

  University Health Network, Toronto

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: SEQUENTIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Two-part study, starting with observational cohort measuring baseline parameters longitudinally. The second part of the study includes intervention in a single-arm among participants who completed baseline parameters.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 27, 2022
• First Posted: February 8, 2022
• Study Start: January 17, 2022
• Primary Completion: January 31, 2024
• Study Completion: January 31, 2024
• Last Updated: June 5, 2024

Record last verified: 2023-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CA (1)