Browsing by Subject "Professional identity formation"

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    Perfectionism, impostor phenomenon, and mental health in medicine: a literature review
    (IJME, 2020-09-28) Thomas, Mary; Bigatti, Silvia; Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health
    Objectives: The aims of this review, focused on medical students, residents, and physicians, were a) to determine the levels of perfectionism and prevalence of impostor phenomenon, b) to assess the relationship between perfectionism, impostor phenomenon, and mental health, and c) explore how medical culture may influence these personality characteristics. Methods: A narrative literature review was conducted. Search terms were entered into PubMed, PsychINFO, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Google Scholar without date or geographic restrictions. The McMaster Critical Review Forms for Quantitative and Qualitative Studies were used for article appraisal. Final decisions on inclusion and exclusion were reached through discussion. Sixteen articles were included in this review and summarized in a data extraction table. Results: Medical students had similar perfectionism scores to other student groups but scored lower in maladaptive perfectionism. The overall prevalence of the impostor phenomenon ranged from 22.5% to 46.6%. More females (41% - 52%) experienced clinical levels of impostor phenomenon compared to males (23.7% - 48%). Most studies did not find an association between the impostor phenomenon and academic year of training. Both personality characteristics were associated with negative mental health effects. Medical culture can train for and/or exacerbate these characteristics, affecting professional identity formation. Both characteristics contribute to distress for learners during commonly-used teaching methods in medical education. Conclusions: Comprehensive changes in medical education that consider the relationship between medical culture, professional identity formation, impostor phenomenon, and perfectionism are needed. Longitudinal studies will help identify the implications of these findings for professional identity formation and medical education.
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    The professionalization of medical students : a longitudinal analysis of professional identity formation and professionalism perceptions in second and third year medical students
    (2017-12) Byram, Jessica Nichole; Scheurich, James J.; Brokaw, James J.; Hoffman, Leslie A.; Seifert, Mark F.; Hoffmann-Longtin, Krista
    Background: Recent literature on professional identity formation (PIF) conceptualizes the developmental process into stage theories that remove critical context. This study employed a longitudinal approach to PIF that explored the processes through which professional identity is formed in second (MS2) and third (MS3) year medical students and how their perceptions of professionalism transformed and influenced their PIF. Methods: Nine medical students (n=9) from Indiana University School of Medicine completed this study spanning MS2 and MS3. Participants completed three semi-structured interviews and submitted 10 audio diaries at two-month intervals between interviews. Participants also completed the Professionalism Assessment Tool (PAT) at the beginning of MS2 (PAT1) and end of MS3 (PAT2). Interviews and audio diaries were analyzed using the constant comparative approach and a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine significant differences between mean domain scores of PAT1 and PAT2. Results: This study found several processes of PIF within five themes: Exploring Self in Medicine, Connecting to Image of Medicine, Embodying Role, Internalizing Values, and Exploring Specialty Choice. Processes of participating in patient care and selecting a specialty have the most profound impact on PIF and resulted in medical students feeling like members of the medical community. Analyses revealed participants’ perceptions of professionalism became more complex with clinical experiences and their perceptions of their ability to enact those behaviors transformed across the study period. Furthermore, the participants’ perceptions of professionalism set the foundation for the values they desired to demonstrate as part of their professional identities. Conclusions: This study presents a cohesive picture of how PIF occurs across MS2 and MS3 and how professionalism influences this important developmental process. These results indicate PIF is best cultivated within a medical curriculum where students are able to utilize processes to foster its development. Since professionalism serves as an important foundation to professional identity and a comprehensive understanding is needed for medical students to appreciate a physician’s role in society, the curriculum must be structured in a way to promote a complex, reflective understanding of professionalism that is based on values, actions, and who one wants to be as a physician.