Assignment 2 – Critical Reflexive Analysis Writing Guide
The main purpose of this task is for you to apply your knowledge and understanding of Middle Childhood to your nursing practice. You will do this by acknowledging any existing assumptions and exploring where these have come from, and recognising how you have gained an understanding of the issues/influences experienced by children aged 7-12 years so that you can further develop your nursing practice and care when working with patients of this age.
To be successful in this task it is important to understand the difference between reflection and reflexivity. Reflection involves describing what happened and describing your awareness of this reflection. Reflexivity goes further. It involves another deeper scrutiny of your reactions and the reactions of others. Oftentimes many of our reactions are unconscious or taken-for-granted, but they come from somewhere in our social world, or from our past, and so it is important to attempt to understand why we have them.
Reflexivity is more than just describing what happened. Reflexivity is a proactive attempt at consciously understanding the causes and effects of your (re)actions and the (re)actions of others – and why – within your social and cultural circumstances. This may involve, for example, analysing our use of language/communication in how it impacts on ourselves and others. Reflexivity involves analysing influence (e.g., influences from others, what you have read and experienced, beliefs, ideas, values, culture, discourses, etc.) including how you influence yourself and others – and why. Critical reflexivity enables you to unsettle taken-for-granted assumptions and practices (of yourself and of others).
The CRA should be written in a personal tone with I statements, and the discussion should centre around what you personally found useful about understanding Middle Childhood development and how this understanding supported or challenged your existing knowledge and assumptions. It is also important to discuss how the theoretical concepts from the textbook and the practical strategies/issues/examples from the literature and your personal experiences/conversations with others influenced how you would now approach working with children aged 7-12 years.
Some examples of how to write your CRA as well as things to consider could be:
• I learned/realised/assumed….
• Perhaps this was because there was a significant gap in my understanding around psychosocial development/cognitive development/physiological issues I’m more knowledgeable about….
• I question my assumptions around x because of y…
• there was ….. that I took for granted about learning about Middle Childhood as a nurse because…
• I felt x because y…
• I felt shocked/validated/surprised/concerned by…
• I feel my experience in x helped y
• I initially thought the strategies I used worked well but on engaging with the literature I had to revise my strategies because….
• Understanding the wellbeing model helped me realise I need to be more aware of……when…
• I don’t think my preparation or research was as relevant to my chosen strategies because…. In understanding Piaget’s theory I realised I was approaching something in a more concrete than an abstract level which made me think…
• I felt I needed to read more widely because…
• Going back to the textbook lecture notes to confirm what I read in the research helped me amend my initial proposed strategies by….
• After reading the research I can see how ……theory connects with….. theory in professional practice
It is also useful to reflect on conversations with other professionals as well as your peers so including statements such as the following is also valuable and demonstrates critical reflexivity
• after chatting with one of my nursing lecturers I realised that in practice….
• developmental theory is multifaceted and in talking with my peers I realised…
• after chatting with one of my classmates I…
• I realised I had too narrow or too broad a focus on….
• I can now see the value of understanding middle childhood development in my professional practice because….
Nursing is such a valuable profession because everyone will need nursing care at some point in their lives and usually at a time when they are feeling physically and emotionally vulnerable. Remember to use what you have learned from the seminars in connecting theoretical concepts and research evidence to develop your professional practice. Great nurses can change the lives of patients and their families and we are all grateful for your engagement in this course which we hope has enhanced your understanding of the lived experiences of people throughout the lifespan.