Impostorism: An evolutionary concept analysis.

AIM:The aim of this study was to explore the concept of impostorism as applied to nursing and other disciplines. BACKGROUND:Impostorism has not been well defined or studied in nursing. Researchers have not studied connections between role transition stress of new graduates and impostorism, despite evidence that nursing students experience impostorism during undergraduate studies. DESIGN:Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis was the method used in this study. DATA SOURCES:The databases used were Academic Search Complete, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Health and Psychosocial Instruments, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, PsycARTICLES, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, PsycINFO, SocINDEX, and Dissertations and Theses databases. REVIEW METHODS:All nursing-specific citations were included in the literature sample. Of the remaining non-nursing citations, stratified random sampling provided 28 non-nursing citations. An additional purposive sampling of seminal impostorism publications resulted in 46 resources for analysis. RESULTS:Concept analysis revealed that key attributes of impostorism include fear of failure and difficulty accepting praise. Impostorism antecedents relate to personality, attribution, family, workplace, and sociodemographic variables. According to concept analysis, a conceptual definition emerges of impostorism as a subjective, inaccurate self-assessment involving feelings of intellectual and professional incompetence and fraudulence despite external evidence of success. CONCLUSION:Impostorism has undergone evolutionary changes in various disciplines. However, the nursing discipline needs more research related to nurses' experiences with impostorism in the workplace.