Abstract

Reflective practice is a crucial aspect of being a health professional and needs to be developed throughout one’s career, starting as a student. However, it can be difficult for clinical educators to facilitate student engagement in reflection whilst on placement across a variety locations. This action research study aimed to develop and explore the use of SMS as a tool to facilitate reflective practice for health professional students on clinical placement in an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander context. Following three action research phases, this paper focuses on the most recent (fourth) research phase. In this phase, ten health professional students were sent a series of three reflective SMS messages per week structured around a commonly used framework within this health context, the Making Connections Framework. A focus group was utilized to explore the collective experiences of five students and evaluated using thematic analysis. Four key themes emerged: 1) transition of SMS from a personal to a professional technology, 2) benefits and limitations of the professional use of SMS, 3) SMS for reflective dialogue, and 4) SMS and reflection ‘on’ and ‘in’ practice. SMS was found to be a viable tool for prompting reflection for students on placement in an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander setting when embedded within a broader organisation-wide cultural integrity framework and structure.