Nurse teachers' constructions of reflection and reflective practice

This article concerns the meanings that a sample of nurse teachers ascribed to the concepts of reflection and reflective practice as aspects of an undergraduate nursing curriculum. It represents one of the major findings in a qualitative study that set out to explore nurse teachers' perceptions and experiences of using reflection with diploma nursing students in the Republic of Ireland. Eleven nurse teachers were interviewed intensively, and data were analysed using a strategy resembling grounded theory. Two major themes were identified: reflection and reflective practice as a way of reviewing clinical experiences, and reflection and reflective practice as a way of valuing, developing and professionalising nursing practice knowledge. There was evidence that reflective practice was compartmentalised on nursing curricula, and some participants reported having limited knowledge of reflection. A number of participants alluded to the potential for reflective practice to uncover the hidden wealth of knowledge in everyday nursing practice. There appeared, however, to be a risk that this perceived wealth may be a conceptualisation of the teachers, rather than the students. Reflective learning through the affective domain was perceived as central to caring.