az of reflective practice
Professional Keywords series
Every field of practice has its own methods, terminology, conceptual debates and landmark publications. The Professional Keywords series expertly structures this material into easy-reference A to Z format. Focusing on the ideas and themes that shape the field, and informed by the latest research, these books are designed both to guide the student reader and to refresh practitioners thinking and understanding.
Available now
Mark Doel and Timothy B. Kelly: AZ of Groups & Groupwork
David Garnett: AZ of Housing
Jon Glasby and Helen Dickinson: AZ of Interagency Working
Richard Hugman: AZ of Professional Ethics
Glenn Laverack: AZ of Health Promotion
Glenn Laverack: AZ of Public Health
Jeffrey Longhofer: AZ of Psychodynamic Practice
Neil McKeganey: AZ of Addiction and Substance Misuse
Steve Nolan and Margaret Holloway: AZ of Spirituality
Marian Roberts: AZ of Mediation
Fiona Timmins: AZ of Reflective Practice
David Wilkins, David Shemmings and Yvonne Shemmings: AZ of Attachment
az of
reflective practice
Fiona Timmins
Fiona Timmins 2015
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First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE
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ISBN 9781137005045
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
For Melanie Jasper (19542014), a bright shining light who led the way
how to use this book
Reflective practice has been recognized as a strategy for personal and professional development within health and social care for more than 20 years. There is a plethora of texts, from basic introductions to advanced theoretical level, which aim to enable understanding and utility of reflective practice for the practitioner. This book provides a jargon-busting user guide to the key concepts and techniques of reflective practice, and can be used as a handbook and to guide the reader to other sources of information. It aims to be a one-stop resource book for both the beginner and the experienced practitioner, and an aide-memoire for the aspiring reflective practitioner.
The book is intended as a useful resource to quickly look up topics of interest in the field of reflective practice. It is intended as an interdisciplinary text with application in health-related academic and practice disciplines where the practice of reflection is encouraged. Examples of these are physiotherapy, nursing, occupational therapy, medicine, psychology, radiography, pastoral care, clergy and dentistry. The practice of reflection is of growing importance and also has some useful application in practical disciplines such as teaching, law and engineering. For this reason practical applications and examples are deliberately broad and not necessarily applied to one discipline or the other. Situations where reflection can be used across disciplines are often those that concern people and relationships, such as creating trust; building relationships; confronting challenging behaviour; maintaining a focus in a conversation; breaking bad news; responding to difficult emotions such as guilt, anger or sadness; ending a piece of work; learning from mistakes; and evaluating practice. These factors and how they apply in your particular learning or work setting need to be borne in mind when reading the entries.
In keeping with the AZ style of the series, there is an alphabetical structure. As such, topics are not presented sequentially but rather intended to be read as self-contained entries. Each entry provides a brief overview of the topic in question and for further in-depth reading around the area you are guided to the list of key texts provided. There is a four-fold referencing system insofar as you may be guided to your areas of interest by scanning the alphabetical entries either manually or by looking at the contents page. There are also see also lists and italicized cross-references embedded in narrative and index. Readers new to the topic might like to begin by exploring basic concepts such as reflection and reflective practice first and exploring the see also lists of these. It is useful for those seeking a more in-depth knowledge of the topic to explore the area through further reading and bibliography for a fuller grasp of the field.
introduction
Reflective practice is increasingly being recognized as a useful strategy for personal and professional development within the healthcare fields for more than 20 years. Indeed almost every modern professional espouses the notion of reflection on practice (Hargreaves and Page 2013). There is a plethora of texts, from basic to conceptual levels, which aim to enable understanding and utility of reflective practice for the practitioner. The proposed text will provide a jargon-busting user guide to the key concepts and techniques of reflective practice, and can be used as a handbook and to guide the reader to other sources of information. Hence it will be a one-stop source book for both the beginner and the experienced practitioner, but will attempt to provide an overview that enables any reader to start a journey to becoming a reflective practitioner.
Many qualified practitioners need to provide evidence of continued professional development (CPD) for professional registration, and often require reflective reviews as evidence. Similarly, students may have assessments driven by reflective processes, reviews or writing. Work-based learning is becoming an increasingly popular mechanism of CPD for practitioners without removing them from the workplace. This book supports all of these approaches.
Reflective practice is a valued and embedded method of obtaining CPD in a number of disciplines. This book will be a useful resource which will provide a quick guide to students and practitioners across disciplines. In particular, reflection is embedded in nursing, social work and counselling. In addition this book will be of value to all students and practitioners who use reflection as a process of professional development (e.g. psychology students and psychologists, psychotherapists and occupational therapists). All disciplines with a practice focus will find this book to be of value.
