Reflective writing among healthcare practitioners in primary care: a qualitative study from Qatar

Abstract

Reflective practice is an important cornerstone of continuing professional development for healthcare practitioners in primary care. Following workshops on communication, conflict resolution, teamwork, and leadership, this study analyzed written reflections that used Gibbs Reflective Cycle from 501 healthcare practitioners. We first analyzed the level of these reflections using Bradley’s 3 levels of reflection, then conducted content-thematic analysis of reflections on the four workshops topics. Key findings highlighted that most reflections were at level 2, followed by level 3 and the least were at level 1. Moreover, the highest number of reflections was on communication, when three themes were identified: communication issues with a team member, language barriers with patient/family, and problematic verbal communication from patient/family. Teamwork was the second in terms of number of reflections and it also revealed three themes: effective teamwork to accomplish an institutional mission, teamwork in the workshop itself and hierarchy. Less reflections were on leadership and conflict resolution. We argue that reflective writing enables health professionals and leadership to identify challenges and facilitators for effective communication, teamwork, leadership, and conflict resolutions.

Other Information

Published in: Cogent Education
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186x.2024.2373555