Evaluation of a reflective learning programme for radiation therapy graduates

Abstract

Purpose: Radiation therapy graduates from three-year university undergraduate programmes in Australia must successfully complete a clinical year to become eligible to attain full accreditation from radiation therapy regulatory bodies. A reflective practice tutorial programme was integrated into this year-long supervised practice programme to introduce reflective practices and promote the lifelong use of reflection as a strategy to improve practice. The purpose of this research was to establish graduate's perception of the tutorial programme and provide data to inform changes necessary to meet the objectives of the programme. Methods: A questionnaire was used to collect feedback about the tutorial programme from the five radiation therapy graduates who participated in the programme. This consisted of both quantitative and qualitative questions. All five of the graduates responded to the questionnaire. Results: Analysis of the feedback revealed the reflective programme was perceived to be useful to the new graduates during their supervised practice year. However, two of the five graduates indicated they would not actively pursue reflective practice activities in the future. Conclusion: Although the size of the group questioned was small, the survey provided an indication of the value of the reflective tutorial programme. There may be value in continuing to pursue this topic further with a larger cohort of graduates as well as to assess whether those who have undertaken the programme continue to be reflective in their practice as they increase in experience. It would also be interesting to investigate the reasons that reflective activities would not be pursued in the future.