A person-centred enquiry into the teaching and learning experiences of reflection and reflective practice--part one

Reflection and reflective practice has become a key issue for curriculum development within nurse education, particularly mental health nursing. The Nursing and Midwifery Council has linked the demonstration of reflective skills to clinical competence to gain entrance onto the professional register. However, despite a significant volume of literature on reflection there is a paucity of research evidence regarding how nurse educators teach mental health nursing students to reflect and become effective reflective practitioners and, little research exploring experiences of staff and students engaged in reflection for teaching and learning purposes. A person-centred enquiry was undertaken to explore staff and student perceptions and understanding of reflection in the context of the undergraduate pre- and post-registration mental health nursing diploma programme, utilising a framework involving four focus groups and conducted in a university setting. The findings from the discussions that took place within the focus group setting produced a new model and an extended description of reflection together with non-prescriptive recommendations aimed at enhancing teaching practice.