© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Nursing Forum Volume 51, No. 2, April-June 2016 Reflective Practice: A Comparative Dimensional Analysis of the Concept in Nursing and Education Studies Marie-Hélène Goulet, RN, MA, Caroline Larue, RN, PhD, and Marie Alderson, RN, PhD Marie-Hélène Goulet, RN, MA, is Doctoral Student, Faculty of Nursing, Université de Montréal, Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Santé Mentale de Montréal (CRIUSMM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Caroline Larue, RN, PhD, is Professor, Faculty of Nursing, Université de Montréal, CRIUSMM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Marie Alderson, RN, PhD, is Professor, Faculty of Nursing, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Keywords Concept analysis, dimensional analysis, education, nurse/midwife, reflective practice Correspondence Marie-Hélène Goulet, RN, MA, Faculty of Nursing, Université de Montréal, Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Santé Mentale de Montréal, 7401 Hochelaga, Montreal, Quebec H1N 3M5, Canada E-mail: marie-helene.goulet@ umontreal.ca Conflict of interest: No conflict of interest has been declared by the authors. Funding statement: The Quebec Nursing Intervention Research Network provided funding for the translation of this paper. Goulet Larue Alderson AIM. This paper reports on an analysis of the concept of reflective practice. BACKGROUND. Reflective practice, a concept borrowed from the field of education, is widely used in nursing. However, to date, no study has explored whether this appropriation has resulted in a definition of the concept specific to the nursing discipline. DATA SOURCES. A sample comprised of 42 articles in the field of nursing drawn from the CINAHL database and 35 articles in education from the ERIC database (1989–2013) was analyzed. REVIEW METHOD. A concept analysis using the method proposed by Bowers and Schatzman was conducted to explore the differing meanings of reflective practice in nursing and education. RESULTS. In nursing, the dimensions of the concept differ depending on context. In the clinical context, the dimensions may be summarized as theory–practice gap, development, and caring; in training, as learning, guided process, and development; and in research, as knowledge, method, and social change. In education, the concept is also used in the contexts of training (the dimensions being development, deliberate review, emotions, and evaluation) and research (knowledge, temporal distance, and method). The humanist dimension in nursing thus reflects a use of the concept more specific to the discipline. CONCLUSION. The concept analysis helped clarify the meaning of reflec- tive practice in nursing and its specific use in the discipline. This obser- vation leads to a consideration of how the concept has developed since its appropriation by nursing; the adoption of a terminology particular to nursing may well be worth contemplating. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Nursing Forum Volume 51, No. 2, April-June 2016 139 AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR NURSING