Impostor Syndrome and Compassion Fatigue among postgraduate allied health students: a pilot study

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11157/fohpe.v21i3.388

Keywords:

burnout, secondary traumatic stress, professional education, mental health

Abstract

Aim: This study explored the prevalence of compassion fatigue and impostor syndrome risk in Australian university students in two allied health disciplines.

Methods: In July 2018, anonymous surveys were collected from 72 graduate allied health students (76.4% female, 50% aged under 25 years old). The Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) scale was used to measure compassion fatigue, with participant scores categorised into “not at risk”, “low to average risk” or “high risk” using the cut-offs outlined in the ProQOL manual. The Young Impostor Scale (YIS) was used to screen for the presence of imposter syndrome.

Results: More than a third of respondents (37.5%) had symptoms of impostor syndrome, and 15.3% were at risk for compassion fatigue. Presence of compassion fatigue and/ or imposter syndrome was analysed across age range, gender, living arrangement and student status (domestic or international), revealing females were more likely to screen positive for imposter syndrome (45.5%) than males (11.8%). Results from the ProQOL and YIS were combined to identify 57% of participants to be at risk of one or both of these potentially detrimental states.

Conclusion: The results of this study suggest the importance of prioritising imposter syndrome and compassion fatigue in future student mental health research. Specifically, attention should include a critical evaluation of the assessment measures and approaches available. Longitudinal monitoring of imposter syndrome and its interplay with other conditions, such as compassion fatigue, across allied health professions would be valuable in developing a theoretical framework to support interventional studies.

Author Biographies

Dunay Schmulian, The University of Queensland

Lecturer

Discipline of Audiology

School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

 

Wendy Redgen, The University of Queensland

Postgraduate student

Discipline of Audiology

School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Jenny Fleming, The University of Queensland

Professor and Head
Discipline of Occupational Therapy
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

References

Asfour, H., & Ramadan, F. H. (2011). Posttraumatic stress among undergraduate emergency nursing students. Journal of American Science, 7(6), 997–1004. http://www.jofamericanscience.org/journals/am-sci/am0706/155_6069am0706_997_1004.pdf

Aubeeluck, A., Stacey, G., & Stupple, E. J. (2016). Do graduate entry nursing students experience “imposter phenomenon”? An issue for debate. Nurse Education in Practice, 19, 104–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2016.06.003

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2013). Allied health workforce 2012 (Cat. no. HWL 51). AIHW. https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/ceeac63a-1670-4e75-85d2-61225ffb4ca9/15993.pdf.aspx?inline=true

Christensen, M., Aubeeluck, A., Fergusson, D., Craft, J., Knight, J., Wirihana, L., & Stupple, E. (2016). Do student nurses experience imposter phenomenon? An international comparison of final year undergraduate nursing students’ readiness for registration. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(11), 2784–2793. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13034

Clance, P. R. (1985). The impostor phenomenon: Overcoming the fear that haunts your success. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL2554807M/The_impostor_phenomenon

Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 15(3), 241–247. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0086006

Cvetkovski, S., Reavley, N. J., & Jorm, A. F. (2012). The prevalence and correlates of psychological distress in Australian tertiary students compared to their community peers. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 46(5), 457–467. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867411435290

Department of Education and Training. (2016). 2015 higher education statistics [Infographic]. https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/2015_infographic_0.pdf

Department of Education and Training. (2018). 2017 First half year higher education statistics [Infographic]. https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/2017firsthalfyearstudentinfographic.pdf

El-bar, N., Levy, A., Wald, H. S., & Biderman, A. (2013). Compassion fatigue, burnout and compassion satisfaction among family physicians in the Negev area: A cross-sectional study. Israel Journal of Health Policy Research, 2(1), Article 31. https://doi.org/10.1186/2045-4015-2-31

Figley, C. R. (Ed.). (1995). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. Brunner/Mazel.

French, B. F., Ullrich-French, S. C., & Follman, D. (2008). The psychometric properties of the Clance Impostor Scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(5), 1270–1278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.11.023

Gardner, S. K., & Holley, K. A. (2011). “Those invisible barriers are real”: The progression of first-generation students through doctoral education. Equity & Excellence in Education, 44(1), 77–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2011.529791

Holmes, S. W., Kertay, L., Adamson, L. B., Holland, C. L., & Clance, P. R. (1993). Measuring the impostor phenomenon: A comparison of Clance's IP scale and Harvey's I-P scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 60(1), 48–59. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa6001_3

Joinson, C. (1992). Coping with compassion fatigue. Nursing, 22(4), 116, 118–119, 120.

Leahy, C. M., Peterson, R. F., Wilson, I. G., Newbury, J. W., Tonkin, A. L., & Turnbull, D. (2010). Distress levels and self- reported treatment rates for medicine, law, psychology and mechanical engineering tertiary students: Cross-sectional study. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 44(7), 608–615. https://doi.org/10.3109/00048671003649052

Lefebvre, H., & Levert, M. J. (2006). Breaking the news of traumatic brain injury and incapacities. Brain Injury, 20(7), 711–718. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699050600744244

Legassie, J., Zibrowski, E., & Goldszmidt, M. (2008). Measuring resident well-being: Impostorism and burnout syndrome in residency. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 23(7), 1090–1094. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-008-0536-x

Mason, H. D., & Nel, J. A. (2012). Compassion fatigue, burnout and compassion satisfaction: Prevalence among nursing students. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 22(3), 451–455. https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2012.10820554

Mathieu, F. (2007). Running on empty: Compassion fatigue in health professionals. Rehab & Community Care Medicine, 4, 1–7. http://www.compassionfatigue.org/pages/RunningOnEmpty.pdf

McArthur, M. L., Andrews, J. R., Brand, C., & Hazel, S. J. (2017). The prevalence of compassion fatigue among veterinary students in Australia and the associated psychological factors. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, 44(1), 9–21. https://doi.org/10.3138/jvme.0116-016R3

McKenna, L., & Rolls, C. (2011). Undergraduate midwifery students’ first experiences with stillbirth and neonatal death. Contemporary Nurse, 38(1–2), 76–83. https://doi.org/10.5172/conu.2011.38.1-2.76

Oriel, K., Plane, M. B., & Mundt, M. (2004). Family medicine residents and the impostor phenomenon. Family Medicine, 36(4), 248–252. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.552.2313&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Orygen: The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health. (2017). Under the radar: The mental health of Australian university students. Author. https://www.orygen.org.au/Policy-Advocacy/Policy-Reports/Under-the-radar/Orygen-Under_the_radar_report.aspx

Rakestraw, L. (2017). How to stop feeling like a phony in your library: Recognizing the causes of the imposter syndrome, and how to put a stop to the cycle. Law Library Journal, 109(3), 465–476. https://www.aallnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Vol-109-No-3-How-to-Stop-Feeling-Like-a-Phony-in-Your-Library.pdf

Robinson-Walker, C. (2011). The imposter syndrome. Nurse Leader, 9(4), 12–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2011.05.003

Sakulku, J., & Alexander, J. (2011). The impostor phenomenon. International Journal of Behavioral Science, 6(1), 74–97. https://doi.org/10.14456/ijbs.2011.6

Sexton, D. (2013). “As good as it's going to get”: Bad news conversations in neurology—Challenges for occupational therapists. The British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76(6), 270–279. https://doi.org/10.4276/030802213X13706169932860

Sorenson, C., Bolick, B., Wright, K., & Hamilton, R. (2016). Understanding compassion fatigue in healthcare providers: A review of current literature. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 48(5), 456–465. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12229

Stallman, H. (2010). Psychological distress in university students: A comparison with general population data. Australian Psychologist, 45(4), 249–257. http://doi.org/10.1080/00050067.2010.482109

Stamm, B. H. (2010). The concise ProQOL manual. https://proqol.org/uploads/ProQOLManual.pdf

Vandekieft, G. K. (2001). Breaking bad news. American Family Physician, 64(12), 1975–1979. https://www.aafp.org/afp/2001/1215/p1975.html

Villwock, J. A., Sobin, L. B., Koester, L. A., & Harris, T. M. (2016). Impostor syndrome and burnout among American medical students: A pilot study. International Journal of Medical Education, 7, 364–369. https://doi.org/10.5116/ijme.5801.eac4

Willans, J., & Seary, K. (2011). “I feel like I'm being hit from all directions”: Enduring the bombardment as a mature-age learner returning to formal learning. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 51(1), 119–142.

Downloads

Published

2020-12-01

How to Cite

Schmulian, D., Redgen, W., & Fleming, J. (2020). Impostor Syndrome and Compassion Fatigue among postgraduate allied health students: a pilot study. Focus on Health Professional Education: A Multi-Professional Journal, 21(3), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.11157/fohpe.v21i3.388

Issue

Section

Articles