Learning psychology as a challenging process towards development as well as “studies as usual”: a thematic analysis of medical students’ reflective writing

Abstract

Olof Semb,1 Niclas Kaiser,2 Sven-Olof Andersson,1 Elisabet Sundbom3 1Department of Clinical Sciences, Division for Professional Development, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; 2Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; 3Department of Clinical Sciences, Division for Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden Abstract: Reflective writing in medical training has been shown to be most effective when combined with some form of personal meeting or dialog. During a course in medical psychology for medical students, reflective texts were followed up by an individual personal talk with a teacher from the course. Thematic analysis of the texts revealed four separate sub-themes: 1) the course has enabled me and the class to develop, which is good albeit arduous; 2) understanding myself is a resource in understanding people as well as knowing psychology; 3) the course provided me with new, purely intellectual skills as well as eye-openers; and 4) the receiving teacher is an integral part of my reflective writing. The main theme, capturing the students’ writing process, concluded that students perceive the course as “Learning psychology as a challenging process towards development” as well as “studies as usual”. Ethical, psychological, and pedagogical aspects are discussed in the paper. Keywords: reflective writing, self-knowledge, individual personal talks, thematic analysis, medical education