Imposter Syndrome

    What is Imposter syndrome? Imposter syndrome is when an individual experiences thoughts of being incompetent or lacking abilities to perform in the job they are currently or about to be working in. This is something a lot of fresh, entry-level therapists and other healthcare workers might experience when they get ready to start a new job or career. I have definitely experienced this during the first few weeks of OT school and during the first few days of each fieldwork rotation I have had. I felt that I was not going to be able to learn easily and that I would struggle to learn what OT is and how to treat patients during our rotations. These thoughts quickly came to an end as the program progressed and my time at the fieldwork sites when on. 

    After going through all the materials for this module on imposter syndrome, I took the Clance IP scale assessment to determine whether or not I had IP characteristics. After completing the 20 questions, I added up my score and it equalled 35. According to the scoring chart, my score of 35 falls into the category of scoring 40 or less. This number dictates that I have few imposter characteristics. I feel that as my time in OT school progressed and I was exposed to more fieldwork rotations, my confidence increased and my imposter characteristics slowly declined. I feel that if I were to take this test during my first week of OT school, my score would have been drastically higher. I believe during my time in the program, I have picked up different strategies to help me self-reflect on the things that I have accomplished. In turn, this helped me reduce the imposter characteristics that I once had. I believe that after my level 2 fieldwork rotations, I will be even more prepared to take on the role as an OT in a full-time job while having minimal thoughts of imposter characteristics.