Workplace violence and the impostor phenomenon in medicine: a US-based qualitative study

Abstract

Physicians experience impostor phenomenon when they attribute their success to luck and fraudulence rather than ability or competence. They also experience workplace violence, including sexual and nonsexual harassment, discrimination, microaggression, and assault, among others. Using Weiner's attribution theory, this qualitative study interviewed US-based physicians experiencing impostor phenomenon to investigate its connection with workplace violence. Two research questions were examined: What are the different forms of workplace violence reported in medicine? How does workplace violence contribute to impostor phenomenon? Interested participants responded to an advertisement about a national study examining impostor phenomenon at a US-based medical conference (convenience sampling). After the interview, many participants shared the study information in their professional and social network, encouraging others to participate (snowball sampling). Data were analyzed using constant comparison and analytic induction. Sixty-three physicians completed the initial survey and were all invited for the interview.