Wigg, Rowan Sarah (2009) Enhancing reflective practice among clinical psychologists and trainees. DClinPsych thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The role of the Clinical Psychologist has developed to incorporate that of the reflective practitioner. This thesis aims to consider how reflective practice is incorporated into personal and professional development by clinical psychologists and trainees, and what impact it may have upon clinical practice. The first chapter of the thesis reviews the relevant literature from the past 10 years relating to the use of personal therapy among therapists and the links to reflective practice. The findings suggest that a number of studies demonstrate some benefits of personal therapy for therapists. However, the literature lacks a unified theoretical explanation of the processes that occur during personal therapy and of their influence on the development of reflective practice. This chapter offers a critique of the literature and proposes a potential model for understanding the development of reflexivity through personal therapy. Chapter Two is an exploratory study of clinical psychologists’ experiences of personal development groups whilst in training. The study adopts an interpretive phenomenological approach to the analysis and results are presented through four super-ordinate themes. The results suggest that personal development groups are seen as an effective method of developing reflective practice by participants. The processes which encourage and hinder this are also explored. The research suggests that engaging in reflective practice may become a luxury after training in some cases and this may result in an increased strain on the therapist. The clinical and research implications of the study are discussed. Chapter Three provides a reflective account of the author’s experience of the research process including; choosing the research topic, developing the research question, relationship to the research and personal experiences of personal development groups. The paper comments on the presence of bias within the research, the impact of conducting the study on the researcher and reflections on themes arising from the empirical paper.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (DClinPsych)
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Clinical psychologists -- Training of -- Great Britain, Critical thinking -- Great Britain, Professional education -- Great Britain, Mental health personnel
Date:	May 2009
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Psychology
Thesis Type:	DClinPsych
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Cushway, Delia ; Neal, Adrian
Description:	Completed in conjunction with Coventry University. School of Health and Social Sciences.
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	148 leaves : charts
Language:	eng
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/3264

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