Capturing Reflections for Personal and Professional Development in Medical Education: A Mixed Methods Study

TL;DR

This study explores how medical students can use reflection and retrospection to support their personal and professional growth through various formats and online tools.

Contribution

The study introduces and evaluates novel formats for reflection and retrospection in medical education, emphasizing student choice and online collection methods.

Findings

Students found the 'note to self' format most suitable for reflection using text, video, audio, or images.

An online medium was preferred for collecting reflections, with ease-of-use and overview display being crucial.

Students appreciated the ability to trace their personal development through retrospection methods.

Abstract

To prepare medical students for their future role addressing complex health problems, medical education should pay attention to students’ Personal and Professional Development (PPD). Meaningful reflection plays an essential role in such education. We aimed to explore how to facilitate PPD-related reflections, periodic retrospection and collation by medical students.

We performed an intervention study with fourth-year medical students at the University Medical Centre Utrecht in 2024. The interventions consisted of workshops and individual assignments addressing PPD with three different formats for reflection (note to self, core value or representative item), retrospection (compilation, value mapping or self-scoring), and collection (online or analogue). These were analyzed using a convergent mixed methods design with data from Likert scales and open questions in a survey, focus groups and analysis of the submitted reflection materials.

Thirty-four students completed the intervention (participation rate 100%), 33 students completed the survey (response rate 97%). The format of a making a note to oneself using text/video/audio/image was experienced as the most suitable form of reflection. Students experienced the retrospection systems as useful, fun, and/or actionable and most appreciated the opportunity to trace their personal development. An online medium was preferred for the collection of reflections, but ease-of-use and an overview display option of the collected materials were deemed crucial requirements.

Students found the reflection, retrospection and collation methods useful and desirable. Most important for the future design is the freedom to choose and adapt, as well as a balance in time investment and perceived added value. Further research should focus on development of a suitable online medium and test this in a longitudinal setting to address retrospection suitability.

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