The use of guided reflection for clinical learning in post-graduate mental health nursing students: Insights into knowledge transfer

This study is designed to explore the usefulness of guided self-reflection in facilitating nursing students' learning in acute psychiatric care settings. During their one-month clinical placement, in a variety of acute in-patient psychiatric care settings, 28 first year mental health nursing students kept journals describing important daily events, reflecting on their attitudes towards the events and indicating what they could learn from them. The clinical practice coordinator (researcher) and two clinical mentors (psychiatric nurse specialists) supervised 5-6 students in groups, guided the development of their self-reflection, examined the content of their reflective journals and provided weekly feedback. All the students using guided reflection were able to apply a wide range of learned theories and the skills of mental health nursing to their self-reflection activities and clinical care. Major themes in the reflective journals coincided with the development of the students' self-reflection skills, including nurse-patient relationships, meaningful self-reflection processes and identification with patients. These issues, together with other areas of learning, were discussed and clarified with the students. The findings suggest that the guided reflective learning method can help clinical teachers and mentors to put knowledge and skills into practice and meet the learning needs of their students at the post-graduate level in various clinical areas of psychiatric care.