Imposter Syndrome

 

Imposter syndrome is when a person does not feel like they are competent or intelligent enough to be doing the things they are qualified to do. It seems like this is especially evident in the healthcare field. And even though most people think they are the only person who feels this way, as it turns out, most people actually do or have at some point. This is something we have learned about a lot during our master’s program, and it has made me realize that I have also felt this way in multiple different situations. However, learning about imposter syndrome has helped me figure out what can cause it and what I can do to combat it. The times I have felt most like an “imposter” has been leading up to a fieldwork or being on fieldwork. There is always the anxiety of “I don’t know what I’m doing” or “I feel like I don’t know anything” or the fear of failure, but I also know that I would not be where I am if I wasn’t capable of doing it.

From reading the article “Facing Imposter Syndrome as a New Grad” by Suzy Albanese, I have learned that it is important to self-reflect and stop holding yourself to unachievable standards. One way I self-reflected is by completing the Chance IP Scale. I scored a 57 which means I am on the higher end of having moderate imposter phenomena experiences. This made me realize that I am actually more confident in my skills and knowledge than I thought before completing this assessment. While I definitely still do struggle with imposter syndrome, this can help me see the areas I struggle with more and I can self-reflect to figure out why I feel this way and determine ways to help combat the imposter syndrome. As I move into Level II Fieldwork, this self-reflection will help me feel more confident in skills and putting myself out there to do things I would not normally feel comfortable or capable of doing. Albanese said in her article “we are not imposters, we are beginners,” and I will remember that as I go into fieldworks and my first job as an occupational therapy practitioner.

 

References:

Albanese, S. (2019, January 31). Facing imposter syndrome as a new grad. Eyes On Eyecare. https://eyesoneyecare.com/resources/facing-impostor-syndrome-new-grad/#:~:text=This%20can%20lead%20to%20a,as%20a%20first%2Dtime%20OT. 

P.R. Clance. (1985). Clance IP Scale. https://paulineroseclance.com/pdf/IPTestandscoring.pdf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Neuro Note #4 - Huntington's Disease

Image
For my fourth neuro note, I chose to watch a Tedx video on YouTube about Huntington’s disease. It is called “Facing Death Full of Life” and the speaker is Danielle Valenti. I chose to watch this video because I did not know much about Huntington’s disease and the title was intriguing to me. Danielle learned her mother had Huntington’s disease two years after she had been diagnosed. Her mother kept the secret from her until her health really started to decline because she did not want Danielle to be filled with worry. Danielle eventually took her mother to a Huntington’s disease nursing home where her mother ultimately decided to end her own life by choosing not to eat anymore. She passed away 67 days after her last bite of food. Danielle spoke about how hard it was to let her mother do that, but she wanted to honor her mother’s last choice. From this video, I learned that Huntington’s disease has a strong genetic link. Danielle explained that children of a parent who has this disea
Read more

Locus of Control

Locus of control is a phrase that refers to a person’s views about what causes different things and events to happen in his or her life, whether from their own doing (internal) or from outside factors (external). My OT class did an activity to determine whether we had a more internal or external locus of control, and I scored an 11, which is almost directly in the middle. I would say this is pretty accurate for my personality. While I do believe most things are within my control to an extent, one of my favorite phrases is also “que será será” which is Spanish for “whatever will be, will be.” I do the most that I can to handle different situations and get my desired outcomes, but I also know that some things in life are just simply out of my control. For example, when applying to OT schools, I did my best to maintain good grades in undergrad, have a great application, and apply to a variety of schools. However, after interviewing and doing everything I could on my part, it was out of my
Read more

Fitting Assistive Devices

Assistive devices can be really important and useful for a client who wished to increase their functioning and independence in their day to day lives. Additionally, fitting your client for these assistive devices is also really important. Making the right adjustments and adaptions to the assistive devices your client may use helps ensure their safety and stability to make sure that there is no risk of them injuring themselves further. Another reason to make sure they are properly fitted is so that the client is comfortable. One way to appropriately fit a client for a cane is to make sure the hand grip of the cane is level with the ulnar styloid process, the wrist crease, or the greater trochanter of the client. The OT would want to make sure that the client’s elbow and shoulders are relaxed (not elevated) when holding the cane and their elbow will be flexed between 20-30 degrees. For axillary crutches, in addition to the same guidelines as the cane above, the OT should ensure
Read more