Survey Evaluating the Prevalence and the Severity of Feelings of Self-doubt in European Anesthesiologists

NCT05732792 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: AnesthesiaCIPS
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 700
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Impostor syndrome is a form of erroneous self-assessment that is defined as the inability to believe that one's success is earnt and that positive outcomes are the result of one's skills. The syndrome has been described and studied in an array of different populations including the healthcare setting and academic faculty members working in a competitive environment. A scoping review of the imposter syndrome in physicians and physicians in training concluded that low self-esteem, gender, and institutional culture are linked to high rates of imposter syndrome. The fact that this syndrome has been linked to higher rates of burnout is more worrisome. Moreover, this specific syndrome might prevent physicians from acting in certain situations. Even though Impostor syndrome has been described in doctors across a wide range of specialties, it has yet to be specifically investigated within anesthesiology. We hypothesize that imposter syndrome prevalence will be high in this population due to core attributes of the profession itself. With this study, the prevalence and severity of imposter syndrome in the European anesthesia profession will be investigated by using the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) scale, which will be completed by anesthesiologists and anesthesiology residents members of the European Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care. In parallel, key demographics that are linked to increased severity of the imposter syndrome will also be investigated.

Conditions

Imposter Syndrome; Anesthesia

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• CIPS

  The primary aim of this study is to define the prevalence and severity of imposter syndrome among anesthesiologists, which has never been evaluated on a large scale. This will be done through CIPS (Clance Imposter Phenomenon Scale) score. (CIPS is a previously validated survey consisting of 20 questions on a 5-point Likert scale that investigate feelings about self-assessment of competency, praise, and success. Levels of severity of imposter syndrome have been described previously. Briefly, if the total score is 40 or less, the respondent has few Impostor characteristics; if the score is between 41 and 60, the respondent has moderate IP experiences; a score between 61 and 80 means the respondent frequently has Impostor feelings; a score higher than 80 means the respondent often has intense IP experiences. The higher the score, the more frequently and seriously the Impostor Phenomenon interferes in a person's life.

  3 months

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Risk factors IP-anesthesia

  3 months

Study Arms (1)

Anesth-CIPS

The survey is endorsed by the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC) and will be distributed from February 2023 onwards to its members for a period of 6 months.

Other: CIPS Survey

Interventions

CIPS Survey OTHER

The survey is endorsed by the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC) and will be distributed from February 2023 onwards to its members for a period of 3 months. Each anesthesiologist's participation to the survey will be voluntary and anonymous individual consent will be implied by the person's willingness to complete the survey. The survey will also mention this. All surveys will be administered via SurveyMonkey. Surveymonkey allows to build "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act" (HIPAA) compliant surveys that follow strict rules around the protection of health information. Of note, Surveymonkey is also GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliant. Data gathered from the questionnaires will be safely stored on the surveymonkey database. The access to the result database is held by a password that only the authors can use to analyze the data yielded at the end of the survey period.

Anesth-CIPS

Eligibility Criteria

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

Study Population

The survey is endorsed by the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC) and will be distributed from February 2023 onwards to its members for a period of 3 months.

You may qualify if:

• Anesthesiologists

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Université Libre de Bruxelles: lead

Study Sites (1)

AZ Sint-Jan Brugge Oostende AV

Bruges, Belgium

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

imposter syndrome

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 8, 2023
• First Posted: February 17, 2023
• Study Start: February 11, 2023
• Primary Completion: May 11, 2023
• Study Completion: May 14, 2023
• Last Updated: July 21, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-07

Locations

BE (1)