SSLE WEEK 8  3.2 Reflection of Practice  Olutoyin Hussain

SSLE WEEK 8 3.2: As a health and social care professional, reflect on your own personal contributions to the support of individuals experiencing significant life events such as bereavement.

Objective :  To understand reflective writing  To have self-awareness in relation to supporting others who are experiencing significant life events in the workplace

Reflective writing:  Critical reflection is described as: "... a deliberate process when the candidate takes time, within the course of their work, to focus on their performance and think carefully about [...] particular actions, what happened and what they are learning from the experience, in order to inform what they might do in the future." (QCA, 2001, p.8).

What is reflective writing? Reflective writing is:  your response to experiences, opinions, events or new information  your response to thoughts and feelings  a way of thinking to explore your learning  an opportunity to gain self-knowledge  a way to achieve clarity and better understanding of  what you are learning  a chance to develop and reinforce writing skills  a way of making meaning out of what you experienced

Reflective writing is NOT  just conveying information, instruction or argument  pure description, though there may be descriptive elements  straightforward decision or judgement (e.g. about whether something is right or wrong, good or bad)  simple problem-solving  a summary of course notes  a standard university essay

Reflective writing ( Cahan, 2009) Reflective writing is an activity that includes  description (what, when, who) and analysis (how, why, what if.)  It is an explorative tool. ASK questions to yourselves

Video: A Day In The Life of a carer:  Mandy is a senior carer at a residential care home. Mandy became a carer after losing her job, but glad that her career has taken this unexpected turn.  The film follows Mandy for a day, and provides an insight into how becoming a social carer can make a difference to someones life.  XB07mcs XB07mcs

Figure 1: The Thinking Process (adapted from Mezirow 1990, Schon 1987, Brookfield 1987)

 Irene Renzenbrink is a social worker and a leading educator in grief and bereavement support services and palliative care.  Irene is a Board member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement.  6qtlZ4 6qtlZ4 Video:Reflection on the impact of HSC practice on the carers. Self-care for palliative care professionals: A personal reflection

What are the benefits?  Any suggestions?

Benefits of reflective writing  You can acknowledge immediate feelings, then stand back from them  Reflection helps you see what went well and focus on the positive side of an event as well as the more negative  Helps you develop a problem- solving approach, rather than avoiding or thinking about difficulties  Feedback:way of using the feedback to change or develop your approach. (Collings et al, 2000)

Your case study:  Reflection has to be based on your personal experience.

Based on your specific case study:  How did it go? How do I feel about it?  What went well, or OK? Why?  What was not so good? Why?  How could this have been done differently?  What should I change or work on for next time?  What would be the first step?

Based on your case study:  Critically analyse your approach  Attitude  Values  Policies and practices you considered  Behaviour  Support you had  Support you expected  Result?  What did you learn?  What more could be done?

Reflection could include :  Need assessment (sample, survey)  Risks assessment  Plan of action  Important considerations  Results  Lessons learnt.

Tips to help you in your reflective writing process  Think of an interaction, event or episode you experienced that can be connected to the topic  Describe what happened  What was your role?  What feelings and perceptions surrounded the experience?  How would you explain the situation to someone else?  What might this experience mean in the context of your course?  What other perspectives, theories or concepts could be applied to the situation?

Tips to help you in your reflective writing process  √ descriptive (outlining what something is or how something was done)  √ explanatory (explaining why or how it is like that)  √ expressive (I think, I feel, I believe) (Gibbs, 1988)

References  Cahan.E(2009)A Place Like Home.London.  Collings, J and Watton, P, March 2000, JEWELS Project: Learning through Independent Work Experience - Final Report. JEWELS/DfEE  Gibbs, G, 1988, Learning by Doing. A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. FEU  Mezirow 1990, Schon 1987, Brookfield The Thinking Process Student.unsw.edu.au