Nurse Educators’ Perspectives on Student Development of Reflection for Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Practice

Abstract

Psychiatric nursing, in various parts of the world, including regions of Canada, is recognized as a distinct nursing profession. In psychiatric mental health nursing practice, reflection is considered a foundational skill given the relational nature of nurses' therapeutic work. Communicating the significance of reflection for practice to students and teaching this intangible skill is challenging for educators. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore with psychiatric mental health nurse educators their views on how they develop reflective practitioners. Participants' perspectives and experiences in teaching reflective practice were captured in four themes: building the use of self as an agent of change, building skills of reflection/building the habit of reflection, building a bridge between theory and practice, and building a continuing reflective practice - from student to practitioner. Recommendations include a systematic incorporation of reflection into a curriculum and creating supportive learning environments that facilitate the development of reflective practitioners.

“I found it daunting”: An exploration of educational needs and experiences of mental health student nurses working with children and adolescents with eating disorders

“…Countertransference can raise significant difficulties for staff in attempting to form therapeutic relationships with individuals with eating disorders (Walker & Lloyd, 2011), and as a result, students may experience a conflict between their personal values and their professional role (Jewell, 2013). This highlights the importance of exploring one's own personal knowledge, beliefs and values (Benner, 1984; Carper, 1978; Foster, McAllister, & O'Brien, 2006; Karpa & Chernomas, 2013). Being aware and attuned to one's own countertransference response allows for a transformative relationship to develop (Levy‐Warren, 2014; Parlow & Goodman, 2010).…”

Enhancing the clinical reflective capacities of nursing students

“…Multiple authors have recommended that nursing instructors commit to reflective practices and probe student assumptions to help them understand their beliefs and experiences, draw their attention to relevant information, and guide discovery (Ip et al, 2012;Karpa & Chernomas, 2013;Lazenby, 2013;Murphy, 2004). Hour-long, postclinical discussions are part of the clinical curricula and enforced in most North American and Australian nursing schools.…”

Development of reflective competence in students in technical universities of Russia

“…Yet, refl ection can also arise in the process of a person thinking and understanding what they are doing at the time when they are doing it [22]. The scientifi c results of D. Sean laid the groundwork for the studies of J. Scanlan and W. Chernomas describing several stages of the refl ection development in the process of training nurses: self-awareness, description, critical analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and perspective [23]. It is the fi nal stage of refl ection that testifi es to its interpretation as individual aptitude of a person to realize a situation, which causes future effective, cognitive, and behavioral changes.…”

“…This theory also refl ected in the works of Yu. N. Kulyutkin, who has studied refl ection in the personality self-regulation structure [23]. Later concepts considered refl ection in the structure of general human abilities as a fl uid and adaptive process of the psychic system self-transcendence arising at the recursive consciousness level (R. Zelazo [24], A.V.…”