HCAs: developing skills in reflective writing

Abstract

With the emergence of the assistant practitioner (AP) role, many healthcare assistants (HCAs) now attend university in order to gain academic qualifications, such as a foundation degree in health and social care, to enhance their developing role. HCAs who may not have previously studied within a higher education environment may feel anxious at producing academic assignments, especially those that need to demonstrate evidence of reflection. Reflective writing differs from traditional academic writing and this article will explore briefly the concept of reflection, the nature of the HCA as an adult learner, characteristics of reflective writing and two frameworks that support workers can use to demonstrate reflection within their writing.