Module 2= 300 words

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

British Journal of Social Work (2006) 36, 777–788 doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch323 Advance Access publication October 31, 2005

Self-reflection in Reflective Practice: A Note of Caution Kam-shing Yip

Correspondence to Kam-shing Yip, Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. E-mail: ssksyip@ polyu.edu.hk

Summary

In reflective practice, social work students are encouraged to undergo self-reflection. It is a process of self-analysis, self-evaluation, self-dialogue and self-observation. Under appropriate conditions, social workers’ self-reflection can be very constructive, result- ing in self-enhancement. However, under inappropriate conditions, social workers’ self-reflection in reflective practice can be destructive and create problems for their professional and self-development.

Keywords: Reflective social work practice, self-reflection, social work education.

Reflection, reflective practice and self-reflection

Reflective practice has long been a concern in professional practice. There is a growing literature concerned with reflection and reflective practice (see, for example, Dreyfus and Dreyfus, 1986; Bulman, 1994; Yelloly and Henkel, 1995). Calderhead (1989) defined reflection broadly as an acquisition of attitudes and skills in thinking. Habermas (1973) considered reflection to be a process of crit- ical self-determination. It is a process of becoming aware of the influence of societal and ideological assumptions, especially ethical and moral beliefs, behind professional practice. Later, Schön’s (1983, 1987) ‘reflection in action’ describes the spontaneous process of framing and reframing in professional practice. Ruch (2000) summarized four types of reflective learning from related literature: technical reflection, practical reflection, process reflection and critical reflection (Ruch, 2000, p. 101). Technical reflection refers to technical rationality and an empirical analytic level of knowing (Habermas, 1973; VanMahen, 1977; Ruch, 2000). It involves decision making or problem solving by immediate behaviours or skills (Hatton and Smith, 1995).

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Practical reflection identifies and modifies professionals’ personal assump- tions underpinning practice. It seeks alternative responses, enhances profes- sional understanding and affords personal insight (Schon, 1993; Hatton and Smith, 1995; Ruch, 2000). Schön (1993) pointed out that a reflective practi- tioner should possess three important levels of reflectivity: ‘Knowing in Action’, ‘Reflection in Action’ and ‘Reflection on Reflection in Action’. Like peeling off the layers of an onion, reflection can go deeper and deeper, starting from being aware of one’s performance, to critically assessing one’s ideology and belief behind one’s thinking and feeling in the action.

Process reflection is based on psycho-dynamic theory. It focuses on uncon- scious and conscious aspects in reflection, especially transference and counter- transference between worker and client (Nathan, 1993; Hughes and Pengelly, 1997; Ruch, 2000). It also involves the development of a reflexive self in inter- action with others (Sheppard, 2000; Taylor and White, 2001).

Critical reflection transforms practice by challenging existing social, political and cultural conditions (Habermas, 1973; Mezirow, 1981; Clift et al., 1990; Ruch, 2000). It involves ethical and moral criticism and judgements. Mezirow (1981) develops Habermas’ (1973) concept on knowledge to describe the com- plexity of reflectivity. Based on one’s own thinking, perceiving and acting, the professional tries to be critical about his or her reflectivity. (S)he develops a deep form of critical reflectivity about his or her ethical and moral assumptions behind professional practice (Mezirow, 1981; Carr, 1986).

Professionals’ self-involvement in reflective practice

Reflective practice is a process of self-involvement and self-reflection. Different types of reflective practice may mean different types of self-involvement. In tech- nical reflection, the individual practitioner has to compare his or her performance in practice with ascribed standards in intervention models or working manuals.

There are three levels of reflection in practical reflection (Schön, 1987, 1993). In the level of ‘Knowing in Action’, the individual social worker has to be aware of what (s)he has done and what (s)he wants to be done in his or her interven- tion. In ‘Reflection in Action’, a professional has a choice between standing on the ‘high ground’ or the ‘lowland’. The ‘high ground’ means resolving clients’ problems by applying research-based theories and techniques. In the ‘lowland’, workers are involved in clients’ feelings, cognition and situations that are always messy and confusing. This is particularly true for social workers in work- ing with clients experiencing strong emotions and traumatic experiences. Very often, clients’ messy situations and emotions may stir up social workers’ own emotions and past memories. To avoid that, many social workers may simply stand on the ‘high ground’ by applying intervention procedures according to related intervention models or working manuals. Eraut (1994) asserted that personal knowledge is crucial in achieving professional competence. It is based on one’s own subjective experience. It includes professionals’ own memories of

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cases and problems in which they have been involved and reflected upon in their current practice. In actual practice, public knowledge and professional knowledge are internalized by the professionals themselves with their own meanings and interpretations. Thus, reflective practice is a spontaneous process of self-recall of past experience, self-articulation of situations and internaliza- tion of professional knowledge into actual situations and contexts.

In critical reflection, professionals engage in a process of critical self-evaluation about how their own practice and values are being shaped by external social, political and cultural contexts. In process reflection, based on a psycho- dynamic orientation, social workers should be aware of the emotional contents of their interactions (Nathan, 1993; Hughes and Pengelly, 1997) as well as the unconscious process in the client–worker encounter (Mattinson, 1992; Hughes and Pengelly, 1997). That means social workers have to reflect—to think and to feel—on the relationship dynamics. Associated thoughts and feelings enable social workers to gain insights from clients’ experiences and their responses to situations (Ruch, 2000). Certainly, this type of reflection is a profound self- reflection on individual social workers’ deep-seated unconscious emotion, thinking and response in interacting with clients. It seems that the deeper the reflection that is undertaken by the social worker, the deeper is his or her self- involvement in the process of self-reflection.

Boud et al. (1985) asserted that reflection in the context of learning is a generic term for those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experience in order to lead to new understanding and exploration. Rolfe (1998) affirmed that reflection is a process involving three stages. First, the individual attends to the thoughts and feelings aroused by an event. Then, (s)he re-assesses his or her experience of this event. Finally, the individual may generate new insights or perspectives from his or her reflection (Rolfe, 1998). All these new insights may imply an improvement of practice wisdom and competence (Boud et al., 1985; Morrison, 1997; Ruch, 2000). Moon (1999) affirmed that reflection draws on past experience, reflects on it in the present and uses it to inform future practice. Atkins and Murphy (1993) described how reflection may be triggered by an awareness of uncomfortable feelings and thoughts. Mattinson (1992) and Hughes and Pengelly (1997) fur- ther asserted that reflection in practice can awaken deep-seated emotions in clients and social workers alike. All these show that reflection is a self-involve- ment process. Individual social workers’ personal experience, feelings and cog- nition are intermingled in recalling past experience, resolving current difficulties, easing out uncomfortable feelings, evaluating one’s present and past performance and searching for new perspectives and new solutions.

Reflective practice as a process of self-reflection

Self-involvement in reflective social work practice is a process of self-reflection. It is a recurrent process of self-awareness and consciousness (Atkins and

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Murphy, 1993). The deeper the reflection, the stronger is the individual’s awareness of his or her affection, experiences and cognition. It is also a process of self-evaluation, self-analysis, self-recall, self-observation and self-dialogue.

In reflective practice, the individual social worker evaluates his or her own performance, thinking, feeling and response in practice. Evaluation is defined by Bloom et al. (1956) as making a judgement about the value of something. It involves the use of criteria and standards. Mezirow (1981) affirmed that evalu- ation is crucial in generating new perspectives. Professionals evaluate their eth- ical and moral assumptions behind their practice. Harrison’s (1987) study on social workers’ reflective practice showed that they tried to compare their per- formance with what is known or familiar. This may include some performance standards, guidelines or manuals, or simply a comparison with colleagues. Schön’s (1993) ‘Reflection on Reflection in Action’ tends to take one further step, by focusing on the social workers’ self-evaluation of how they reflect on their practice situation. This sort of self-evaluation actively relates to the social workers’ own self-image and professional identity. In extreme cases, social workers may evaluate whether or not they are suited to be social work profes- sionals. That means that the individual social worker is evaluating not only his or her performance but also his or her personality, professional competence and identity.

Reflection is a critical analysis of related situations as well as one’s own assumptions underlying practice (Atkins and Murphy, 1993). It is also an exam- ination of components in situations, identification of existing knowledge, chal- lenge of assumptions and an exploration of alternatives (Bloom et al., 1956; Burnard, 1989; Atkins and Murphy, 1993). In deep reflection, the process of analysis may include one’s self as a referential point that includes one’s prefer- ence, values, norms and feelings (Zhu, 2004). Thus, in self-reflection, the indi- vidual social worker analyses his or her practice. (S)he relates his or her practice to personal, situational, client and contextual factors. The social worker may engage in a process of self-analysis by examining his or her per- sonal attributes (feelings, personality, interest, preferences, background and experience) in response to external factors (social and cultural environments, clients, agency and service contexts). Consistency and harmony between per- sonal (internal) factors and environmental (external) factors may make social workers feel comfortable in the intervention process. However, inconsistency between internal and external factors may make them feel uncomfortable and even at variance with their role.

Boyd and Fales (1983) define reflection as a process of creating and clarify- ing the meaning of experience (present and past) in terms of self (self in rela- tion to self and self in relation to the external world). The experience that is explored and examined to create meaning focuses around or embodies a con- cern of central importance to the self. That means reflective practice is a self- recall of the individual’s past and present experiences. In recalling all these experiences, both happy and unhappy, encouraging as well as discouraging, pleasurable or traumatic memories will be aroused.

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Reflection involves ‘consciousness of the subject’ and the ‘fact of conscious- ness’ it explored (Voegelin, 2000). There is a reflective distance in which the individual tries to act as a subject to observe what (s)he thinks, does and believes. Gould (1989) asserts that reflective social work practice involves a process of reflective observation. A social worker has to be an observer of what (s)he has done in the process of reflection. (S)he may be observing himself or herself while engaged in practice, being conscious of what and how (s)he is doing and why (s)he is doing it. Through reflective practice, (s)he may subse- quently rationally analyse what (s)he has done.

In reflective practice, the individual social worker can frame and reframe a problem by reflective thinking of how his or her current practice compares with his or her previous practice experience (Schön, 1987). In the process of reflect- ing on one’s own performance in practice, a social worker may engage in self- dialogue. In Voegelin’s terms, this is an inner dialogue between ‘the conscious- ness of the subject’ and ‘the fact of consciousness’. It is a kind of self-dialogue where the subject (the self of the social worker) tries to discuss with the object (the social worker’s current and previous feelings and experiences) so as to generate new ways or new perspectives in practice (Voegelin, 2000). On the one hand, the social worker tries to find what sort of good and bad practice (s)he has performed. On the other hand, the social worker tries to explain why (s)he performs in this way. Also, in facing one’s shortfalls in practice, a social worker may try to attribute his or her performance to the influence of other factors that are out of his or her control.

Self-enhancement in constructive self-reflection

Under appropriate conditions, self-reflection can help individual social work- ers to enhance their personal and professional development in practice. Appro- priate conditions include: a supportive environment, social workers’ readiness to undergo self-reflection, individual space for individual workers to undergo reflective practice, workers’ own reflective practice and awareness of one’s lim- its and breaking point.

A supportive environment implies a supportive organizational context, includ- ing colleagues and supervisors. Supportive colleagues and supervisors nurture a warm, empathic rapport that is crucial for constructive self-reflection in reflective practice (Calderhead, 1989). Also, colleagues should appreciate the importance of reflection in professional practice. Mutual support and open sharing among colleagues is the best breeding ground for constructive self-reflection.

Additionally, the individual social worker’s open-mindedness is necessary for spontaneous and deep self-reflection in reflective practice (Boyd and Fales, 1983; Atkins and Murphy, 1993). Professional social workers should be ready and self-motivated to construct their own path in reflective practice (Boud et al., 1985). This includes workers’ readiness in their physical, psychological and social conditions.

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Reflective practice is a self-involvement process in which self-recall, self- evaluation, self-observation and self-analysis take place within the social worker’s mind. The individual social worker needs sufficient inner space to dis- tance himself or herself, to stop and think, to deal with his or her uncomforta- ble feelings and to analyse and resolve discrepancies in practice (Boyd and Fales, 1983; Schön, 1987). Space also implies sufficient time, reasonable work- load and the worker’s own readiness to undergo a self-reflection process.

Reflection is a process of self-awareness and consciousness (Boyd and Fales, 1983; Atkins and Murphy, 1993). Everyone has his or her own unpleasant expe- riences or blind spot(s) (Sheppard, 2000). Social workers are no exception. In facing all these unpleasant experiences, the social workers may need support and help from colleagues, family members and close friends to share, to venti- late, to develop insight in resolving their unpleasant experiences and personal frustration. This may be an ongoing process lasting for a long period of time. It is important that the individual social worker is aware of his or her own limit of tolerance and breaking point in undergoing self-reflection. (S)he should be aware when to seek external support and help, when to stop and think, when to relax and when to accept his or her inadequacies and weakness in reflective practice. Instead of stretching oneself to breaking point by trying to achieve problem resolution within a short period of time, it is important that self- reflection is a healthy and constructive process undertaken at the individual’s own pace.

Self-reflection is a highly individualized path. Each individual constructs his or her own conceptual perspective in resolving difficulties in practice (Schön, 1987; Gould, 1989). Different models in reflective practice are only suggested paths for social workers to consider. They should construct their own individu- alized paths within their own situations, environments, readiness and styles to perform their self-reflection in reflective practice.

Under appropriate conditions, self-reflection in reflective practice can be a rewarding experience resulting in self-enhancement in both personal and pro- fessional development. First, self-reflection in reflective practice can generate new perspectives and insights towards practice (Boyd and Fales, 1983). Social workers frame and reframe their thinking, search for alternatives and synthe- size new ideas, knowledge and ways to deal with problems and difficult situa- tions (Stephenson, 1985; Atkins and Murphy, 1993).

Second, reflection starts with the social worker’s own uncomfortable feelings and sense of difficulty in facing his or her practice. The sense of discomfort prompts the individual social worker to bring to the surface deep-seated inner conflicts or discrepancies (Boyd and Fales, 1983; Schon, 1987, 1991; Atkins and Murphy, 1993). Under appropriate conditions, self-reflection in reflective prac- tice can help individual social workers to resolve such conflicts and discrepan- cies through critical self-analysis and self-evaluation, and to search for new solutions and self-integration. Resolution may manifest itself as relief from a past unpleasant experience or an opening of a new horizon to face discrepan- cies and inner conflicts (Boyd and Fales, 1983).

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All these may improve social workers’ competence in practice. Under appro- priate conditions, the individual social worker can generalize his or her experi- ence in working through certain situations. (S)he can also generalize such positive experiences to deal with other difficult situations. For instance, the individual social worker feels more open and at ease in working through prob- lems of transference and counter-transference in relationships with clients as their inner conflicts are resolved in spontaneous self-reflection (Hughes and Pengelly, 1997; Ruch, 2000).

Professional identity is founded on the ability to handle difficult situations and clients constructively and smoothly. Constructive self-reflection greatly improves the individual social worker’s competence and ability to handle diffi- cult situations and generate insight in practice. (S)he becomes more open to new ideas, more willing to face difficulties, and more confident in dealing with complexities and adversities (Miehls and Moffatt, 2000).

Constructive self-reflection in reflective practice is an ongoing process to resolve difficulties and to search for new ideas (Boyd and Fales, 1983; Schön, 1987, 1991). Harrison (1987) described this as a heuristic searching process. The individual social worker gradually learns to work through vague and ambivalent situations. Gradually, the individual social worker learns how to learn, how to analyse, how to synthesize and how to develop his or her strengths, abilities and potentials in practice.

Harms in destructive self-reflection

Under the appropriate conditions described above, self-reflection in reflective practice is a process of self-enhancement . However, under inappropriate conditions, it can be highly destructive to the social worker’s self-development.

Inappropriate conditions include an oppressive social environment, demand- ing working environment, social workers’ unresolved past trauma as well as social workers’ poor physical and mental health. An oppressive psycho-social environment implies an imbalance of power in a professional’s working envir- onment that is oppressive to the individual worker (Miehls and Moffatt, 2000). It may be a highly critical supervisor, apathetic colleagues, a working team full of oppressive politics and dynamics, or insecurity and uncertainty in the social worker’s employment. In an oppressive environment, social workers may be obliged to disclose their weaknesses and shortcomings or their unpleasant practice experiences to supervisors within the agency; such disclosure may then be used against the worker as an excuse to abuse, to exploit, to undermine and even to dismiss them.

Second, self-reflection in reflective practice demands that social workers subject their inner space and autonomy to self-analysis and self-evaluation (Boyd and Fales, 1983; Schön, 1987). Self-observation and self-dialogue also demand reflective distance that originates from the social worker’s own initia- tive and readiness (Voegelin, 2000). However, a demanding workload in terms

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of a heavy caseload, diversity of work, difficult clients or emergencies may cause fatigue and even burnout. Under such conditions, self-reflection may in reality be more of an additional burden rather than a help for the individual worker.

Furthermore, reflection starts with the social worker’s feeling of discomfort and unease. Self-reflection reawakens the social worker’s personal weakness and inner conflicts (Boyd and Fales, 1983; Schön, 1987, 1991; Atkins and Murphy, 1993). Nevertheless, not all inner conflicts can be resolved through self-reflection, especially those personal traumatic experiences in childhood, marriage and family. Transference and counter-transference in reflective prac- tice may easily reactivate unresolved personal traumatic experiences (Hughes and Pengelly, 1997; Ruch, 2000). For instance, in undertaking divorce work, the social worker’s own unhappy experience of divorce can easily be reawakened in his or her self-reflection. The deeper (s)he becomes involved in self-reflec- tion, the more disturbed (s)he may become by these unhappy past experiences.

Self-reflection in reflective practice demands both social workers’ physical and psychic energy. Self-evaluation, self-analysis, self-dialogue and self-obser- vation demand the social worker’s time, readiness and concentration. A social worker experiencing poor physical and mental health would not be in an opti- mal position to undergo self-reflection in reflective practice.

Under these conditions, self-reflection in reflective practice may create more harm than good for individual social workers.

First, if the social worker has a negative self-image or an unresolved trau- matic experience, (s)he may easily internalize negative comments from an unsympathetic supervisor or manager who has authority to judge or appraise the worker’s performance and practice. Within the process of self-evaluation, self-analysis and self-dialogue, individual social workers may continuously remind themselves of their weakness and shortcomings. They may then overin- dulge in analysis and evaluation of these, which may be highly destructive to the worker’s mental health . The following case demonstrates this sort of harm brought about by inappropriate self-reflection.

A was a social worker in a family service agency. She was diligent and responsible and worked very hard to meet her clients’ needs. She was responsible for counselling a depressive woman who suffered considerable marital discord. The woman’s husband was having an extra-marital affair with another woman in mainland China. A tried her best to help her client with her marital difficulties, but the client committed suicide. A was extremely distressed by this. A’s supervisor was very worried about the adverse effect of the client’s death on the agency’s image and accountabil- ity. He doubted A’s practice competence in working with clients with depression. He challenged A that she had not been sensitive enough to the client’s risk and situation. He insisted that A write a self-evaluation report and demanded that A should reflect thoroughly on what sort of problems she had experienced in handling this case. In the face of her supervisor’s comments, A felt guilty, blaming herself for being insensitive to her client’s suicide risk and criticized herself for not working hard enough to care for

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her client. A internalized her supervisor’s negative comments and became seriously depressed herself. She cried bitterly for several days and finally decided to resign from her job as a self-punishment for her negligence in her professional practice.

Second, under inappropriate conditions, self-reflection in reflective practice may threaten a social worker’s self-identity and professional identity. In facing spontaneous difficulties and burdens in practice, the worker’s frustration, anxi- ety and sense of helplessness may make him or her question his or her suitabil- ity to be a social worker. Self-reflection in the forms of self-evaluation, self- analysis and self-observation may hasten the individual’s search for negative evidence that (s)he is not good enough to be a social worker. It may appear in the form of a negative ‘internal supervisor’ who challenges the social worker’s self-identity and professional image (Casement, 1985). Coupled with a demanding workload and burnout, individual social workers may finally con- clude that they are no longer suited to be social work professionals. The follow- ing case demonstrates this sort of harm:

B was a social work student. He was self-demanding and tried his best to be an excellent social worker. He was placed in a centre for older people for his fieldwork practice. He worked extremely hard to undertake casework, groupwork and advocacy programmes in the centre. At first he felt very competent in working with his clients. Under the supervision of a demand- ing and autocratic supervisor, he had to undergo vigorous self-reflection evaluating what sorts of areas he needed to improve in his fieldwork prac- tice. As a responsible student, he took his supervisor’s instruction seriously. Through frequent and negatively oriented self-reflection, B began to be aware that there were a lot of shortfalls in his social work practice; he did not have the patience to listen to clients’ stories; he was not sensitive enough to the clients’ needs; he failed to work through the politics and dynamics within the agency. Once, in an advocacy programme, an angry male client challenged B that he knew nothing about elderly rights and eld- erly services. Gradually, B felt that he was not competent enough to be a social worker. He felt anxious and tense in working with his elderly clients and became deeply frustrated. He began to wonder whether or not he was suited to be a social worker. He thought he was also a poor student who failed to meet the requirements of his supervisor. His self-image and professional identity seemed to be undermined by all these challenges and difficulties.

In reflective practice, social workers need to recall their practice experience (Boyd and Fales, 1983). Intensive self-recall and self-evaluation exercises may make a social worker recall his or her suppressed unpleasant practice or per- sonal experiences. Under inappropriate conditions, the arousal of these unpleasant or even painful experiences may generate considerable psychologi- cal disturbance. The following case illustrates this sort of harm:

C was a female social worker in a psychiatric rehabilitation agency. She was responsible for counselling residents in a psychiatric half-way house. She worked well and achieved good results from her work with her clients. Her

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supervisor always appreciated her reflective attitude in improving herself. She was accustomed to being sensitive to her attitude and intervention as well as difficulties in working with her clients. Everything went well until, one day, her supervisor assigned her a male schizophrenic client. C seemed to be afraid of the client and requested not to be assigned this case. Her supervisor refused her request by affirming that a competent social worker should have the ability to handle all sorts of clients. He required C to reflect seriously on why she was so reluctant to work with the client. As C felt that her supervisor was so autocratic, she refused to say anything and left his office. In her first two sessions with the client, C felt very uneasy and upset. Later, C got angry and was always shouting at her other clients. One day, she cried bitterly and said she wanted to quit her job immediately. One of her close colleagues comforted her. Then, in tears, C painfully dis- closed the reason for not wanting to work with this client. He had sexually harassed a young child in a park. When she was 6 years old, C had also been sexually harassed in a park by a man. The painful experience had been suppressed for years; however, in working with this client, her own vigorous self-reflection unleashed this painful past experience again.

Finally, under inappropriate conditions, spontaneous self-analysis, self-recall and self-evaluation may unleash unresolved inner conflicts and dynamics. These may originate from the social worker’s own unpleasant experiences in personal development and in social work practice. The process of self-dialogue in the form of acknowledging one’s strengths as well as confronting one’s short- comings in practice may intensify one’s inner conflicts. In extreme cases, all these may result in self-splitting and self-confusion. The following case demon- strates this type of possible harm in inappropriate self-reflection:

D was a social worker in a family counselling centre. She was interested in working with clients with mental illness. As she had an elder brother with schizophrenia, who had committed suicide when D was 10 years old, she understood the stress and burden of a family caregiver in caring for a person with mental illness. However, in talking about her own experiences, she always felt guilty because she had argued with her brother on the day of his suicide and she thought that her quarrel may have provoked his suicide. The more she helped carers caring for a family member experiencing men- tal illness, the more guilty she felt about her brother’s death. The situation worsened when she encountered a critical supervisor who always required subordinates to reflect on what they performed, how they performed and why they performed with their clients, especially in facing difficult situa- tions in intervention. Instead of supporting and appreciating D’s commit- ment to work with clients with mental illness and their family carers, D’s supervisor always challenged her interventions that were not based on accepted clinical models, such as cognitive behavioural or family therapy. Once, D encountered a mother who showed great reluctance to care for her son who had been mentally ill for 10 years and had attempted suicide several times. In an interview with the client’s mother, D suddenly lost her temper and blamed her vehemently, saying that she was irresponsible and sooner or later her son would commit suicide. The client’s mother was shocked by D’s sudden outburst of anger and complained to her supervisor. The supervisor criticized D for her non-professional attitude and accused

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her of bullying the client’s mother. He required her to reflect on her inap- propriate interventions. D burst into tears, and cried bitterly. The inner conflict she was experiencing between being a good social worker but an irresponsible and apathetic sister made her feel extremely frustrated and distressed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this paper is an attempt to discuss self-involvement and self- reflection in reflective social work practice. Rigorous reflection is a process of self-involvement and self-reflection in which the social worker undergoes self- analysis, self-evaluation, self-dialogue and self-observation. It is important that related parties, such as supervisors, agency administrators, social work col- leagues or social workers themselves should try their best to ensure appropriate conditions for social workers’ self-enhancement in reflective practice. On the other hand, related parties should also be careful to avoid inappropriate condi- tions that may create possible harm to the professional and self-development of social workers. Related research should be undertaken on how different conditions affect the self-reflection process of social workers in reflective social work practice.

Accepted: May 2005

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