PURPOSE
Developing reflective practitioners is a primary goal for medical
education. Instructional faculty must have or develop their own critical
reflection skills, since critical reflection is the richest form of
reflection. By identifying where and how often educators utilize critical
reflection in teaching, we can establish a baseline of how critically
reflective faculty are and identify areas where additional support of their
development is needed. The purpose of this IAMSE-funded study, therefore, was
to develop a tool which could be used to determine the depth of reflection
faculty attain in their teaching.
METHODS
We examined the literature and conducted focus groups with faculty to gain
insight into common scenarios in which instructors reflect. Using these
scenarios and grounding our work in reflection theory, we developed
preliminary items for the tool. Reflection and measurement experts
iteratively provided feedback and examined modified items. The final items
were tested in a series of cognitive interviews, which resulted in further
refinement. The final tool is being administered to teaching faculty at two
institutions, permitting an examination of how reflection practices could
vary by institution. We will use statistical tests to examine the tool’s
construct validity through tests of a priori hypotheses about how the tool
should “behave” if it is measuring varying depths of reflection.
RESULTS
This presentation will report on the administered tool and preliminary data
collected from teaching faculty, including analysis of the tool’s construct
validity and potential ability to measure change over time. Final tool
revisions will be discussed.
CONCLUSION
There were unexpected challenges in the development of this unique tool,
suggesting that existing literature does not adequately account for varied
ways in which teaching faculty reflect. We anticipate that the tool will
inform understanding of how faculty use critical reflection in practice and
what circumstances may prompt it.