title: First reflections: third-year dentistry students' introduction to reflective practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To develop both professionally and personally, health professionals need to build essential skills in reflective practice. Educators generally agree that these skills should be developed as part of curricula for health professional students. The aims were to introduce reflective practice to third-year dentistry students and to evaluate the students' self-perceived reflective skills before and after their reflective activities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a written questionnaire, third-year dentistry students' perceptions of reflective practice were gathered before and after their first clinic placement. Students also completed two reflective writing pieces about their clinical placements.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The students' reflective writing pieces were allocated into one of the three categories: non-reflector, reflector and critical reflector. Content analysis of students' perceptions of reflective practice revealed nine themes. Eight main themes emerged from students' suggestions for improving their reflective abilities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Issues around the assessment of reflective writing are discussed, and students' suggestions for improving their reflective abilities are presented.
authors.affiliation: Medical Education, Education Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia. Diana.Jonas-Dwyer@uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: D R D
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Jonas-Dwyer
authors.forename: P V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Abbott
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Boyd
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013850:Thinking; D014956:Writing