Do graduate entry nursing student’s experience ‘Imposter Phenomenon’?: an issue for debate

Aubeeluck, Aimee; Stacey, Gemma; Stupple, Edward J.N.

Abstract

The recruitment of Graduates into the nursing profession is seen as advantageous in the academic literature. Conversely educated nurses are often portrayed in the media as “too posh to wash”. We would argue these conflicting discourses have a negative effect on graduate entry nurse education. Graduate nursing students may be particularly susceptible to “Imposter Phenomenon” a concept that describes an "internal experience of intellectual phoniness" exhibited by individuals who appear successful to others, but internally feel incompetent. We would like to encourage debate through the presentation of a small set of pilot data that established that 74% of the participants had frequent to intense experiences of Imposter Phenomenon. Students experienced feelings of failure despite consistent high achievement. Our findings and the prevalent negative rhetoric surrounding highly educated student nurses raise concerns regarding the impact of the anti-intellectualism on the Graduate entry student’s perception of self. Others may argue that this could simply be a 'natural' or expected level of anxiety in a time of transition that has no lasting impact. We debate this issue in relation to the existing literature to encourage critical dialogue.

Citation

Aubeeluck, A., Stacey, G., & Stupple, E. J. (2016). Do graduate entry nursing student’s experience ‘Imposter Phenomenon’?: an issue for debate. Nurse Education in Practice, 19, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2016.06.003

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 4, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jun 6, 2016
• Publication Date: Jun 17, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jun 8, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 8, 2016
• Journal: Nurse Education in Practice
• Print ISSN: 1471-5953
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-5223
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2016.06.003
• Keywords: Student nurses; “To posh to wash”; Nurse education; Self-perception; Imposter phenomenon; Critical dialogue
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/794472
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2016.06.003
• Contract Date: Jun 8, 2016