Enhancing Medical Students' Reflective Capacity: Utilizing Reflective Practice Questionnaire as an Action Research Diagnostic Tool

Introduction Reflection is the intentional evaluation of one's beliefs or understanding in consideration of the available evidence. Reflection has been noted to enhance profound learning and critical thinking and is an essential foundation of experiential learning. The Reflective Practice Questionnaire (RPQ) is a valid and reliable tool for assessing reflective capacity among medical students. It assesses not only reflective capacity but also other psychological constructs relevant to reflective practice, such as job satisfaction, confidence while interacting with patients, stress during patient interaction, desire for improvement, and feelings of uncertainty. The use of RPQ as a diagnostic tool for improving reflective capacity among medical students is scarcely available in the literature. Thus, the present study aimed to utilize the RPQ for identifying discrete action points for training and future improvement in reflective capacity. Materials and methods The present cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 300 medical students of a medical college. To identify the clusters or meaningful subgroups within the study population, cluster analysis was done. Inter-correlation between subscales of RPQ was performed by forming Pearson's correlation matrix to understand the dynamics between various subscales of RPQ. Results Five groups were identified in the cluster analysis: typical (25.6%), reflective (27%), non-reflective (16.7%), unconfident (14%), and overconfident (16.7%). This sets the template for specific action points for each group identified above. Reflective capacity was positively correlated with Desire for Improvement (DfI), General Confidence (CG), Communication Confidence (CC), and Job Satisfaction (JS). It was also positively correlated with negative outcomes such as Uncertainty (Unc) and Stress when Interacting with Patients (SiC). Conclusion RPQ can be used as a diagnostic tool in terms of reflective capacity for action research.