DISCUSSION PAPER A new way of reflecting in nursing: the Peshkin Approach Caroline Bradbury-Jones, Sarah Michelle Hughes, Wendy Murphy, Laura Parry & Jade Sutton Accepted for publication 17 July 2009 Correspondence to C. Bradbury-Jones: e-mail: c.bradburyjones@dundee.ac.uk Caroline Bradbury-Jones PhD MA RN Nurse Lecturer School of Healthcare Sciences, Bangor University, Wales, UK Sarah Michelle Hughes Nursing Student School of Healthcare Sciences, Bangor University, Wales, UK Wendy Murphy PGDBA Nursing Student School of Healthcare Sciences, Bangor University, Wales, UK Laura Parry Nursing Student School of Healthcare Sciences, Bangor University, Wales, UK Jade Sutton Nursing Student School of Healthcare Sciences, Bangor University, Wales, UK BRADBURY-JONES C., HUGHES S.M., MURPHY W., PARRY L. & SUTTON J. BRADBURY-JONES C., HUGHES S.M., MURPHY W., PARRY L. & SUTTON J. (2009) (2009) A new way of reflecting in nursing: the Peshkin Approach. Journal of Advanced Nursing 65(11), 2485–2493. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2009.05144.x Abstract Title. A new way of reflecting in nursing: the Peshkin Approach. Aim. This paper is a report of a new approach to reflection in nursing and dem- onstrates its positive outcomes for student learning in clinical practice. Background. Reflection is a popular educational tool in nursing and most tradi- tional reflective models take an incident as the starting point. We have developed a new approach that focuses on subjective thoughts and feelings. We were inspired by the work of Peshkin and his focus on the ‘subjective I’. For this reason, we have termed this new way of reflecting ‘The Peshkin Approach’. Data sources. Eight nursing students kept a reflective diary during a 6-week clinical placement in 2008. The focus was on recording their thoughts and feelings. They analysed the diary entries using a systematic approach. The aim was to identify aspects of their subjectivity influencing them in clinical practice. Discussion. Through analysis of journal entries, the students became aware of the subjective I’s that were influencing their experiences. They found the advantages of the approach to be twofold: increased self-awareness and enhanced learning. Conclusion. Maintaining a reflective journal that focuses on subjectivity can enhance the clinical experiences of nursing students. We advocate this new approach as complementary to more traditional forms of reflection and argue for its incor- poration into nurse education programmes. In comparison to traditional reflective models that we have used, the Peshkin Approach to Reflection has significant advantages in terms of promoting student learning in clinical practice. We hope the approach can be critiqued and developed further by those interested in enhancing nurse education. Keywords: nursing, Peshkin, reflection, reflective journals, students, subjectivity Introduction Reflection is immensely popular in nursing and has been included in numerous nurse education programmes (Stoddart et al. 1996, Hannigan 2001, Taylor 2003, Whitehead & Mason 2003). In fact, according to Newell (1992) it has become a cornerstone of nursing professionalism. However, reflection is multifaceted (Wong et al. 1997, Epp 2008) and the concept lacks clear definition (Stoddart et al. 1996, Mackintosh 1998). Despite this apparent ambiguity Ó 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2485 JAN JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING