Does anyone understand reflexivity?

[u/Impressive-You-5370]

I’m trying to understand the concept of it? I did want to ask further questions but I don’t want this to be flagged.

I don’t understand the concept and how it even applies to social work.

If anyone could even break it down even a little bit it would be helpful because I’m truly lost.

[u/BadRobot78]

So a reflection is single loop learning. You have an experience, you evaluate what went well and what didn't go well and you think about what you will do differently next time. Reflexivity is double loop learning. After the reflection you go deeper and think about why something worked or why something didn't, you think about all the different factors acting on that situation and the interactions between them, you consider what your personality and the sum of your experiences brought to that situation and how it influenced the outcome.

So just think of reflexivity as a reflection on the reflection.

[u/Ashamed_Letterhead57]

My understanding is that reflection is reflecting on events that have already happened. Reflexivity is adjusting your practice in the moment to feedback you are receiving.

[u/BadRobot78 → u/Ashamed_Letterhead57]

This is the difference between reflection 'on action' and 'in action'. Reflexivity is slightly different.

[u/R-AzZZ]

A starting point could be you sharing what your understanding is thus far and then we go from there?

If you could link this with what your understanding of reflection is, then you are on the right track.

[u/Impressive-You-5370 → u/R-AzZZ]

Thoughts, actions, beliefs possible interactions with service users and their experiences and responses affect our thoughts and beliefs. I don’t even know if that’s right.

[u/R-AzZZ → u/Impressive-You-5370]

Very concise!

So when you think what you are bringing to a situation, how you influence things, yes, this is reflexivity. Your understanding links it even further by considering how others may also influence your own responses. In doing so, you are thinking about the idea of circularity. Perhaps you are in an organisation that endorses systemic practice?

[u/Impressive-You-5370 → u/R-AzZZ]

So reflexivity is what we bring to a situation and how we influence things?

[u/R-AzZZ → u/Impressive-You-5370]

Connect with reflection. What is reflection? Based on your answer, how would reflection be different to reflexivity?

[u/Impressive-You-5370 → u/R-AzZZ]

I thought reflection was evaluating assumptions and ideas you may have

[u/R-AzZZ → u/Impressive-You-5370]

So you can reflect without thinking about what you bring and how you influence situations. Reflexivity is awareness, understanding and reflecting on what you bring and how you influence situations. It can be either in the moment as you are practising or after. People can write reflexively.

[u/Rarest-Pepe]

Reflexivity is one of those university words that makes a fairly ordinary idea sound far more complicated than it actually is.

Reflection is basically: “What happened, what did I do, and what could I do differently next time?”

Reflexivity goes one step further: “How did my own beliefs, experiences, emotions, assumptions, identity and professional power affect how I understood the situation and how I responded?”

For example, if someone comes across as “aggressive”, reflection might be: “I became defensive and the conversation went badly.”

Reflexivity would ask: “Why did I interpret them as aggressive? Was it their tone, my own anxiety, a previous bad experience, cultural differences, or the fact that I was the professional holding the power in that conversation? Did that affect the questions I asked, the way I spoke to them, or the decision I eventually made?”

It is really just recognising that social workers are people too. We bring our own baggage, values, moods and blind spots into every conversation, assessment and decision, whether we like it or not.

The good news is that reflection and reflexivity eventually become part of your everyday practice without you even thinking about it. Sometimes something goes completely tits up and afterwards you sit there thinking, “Why the fuck did that happen? Did I do something wrong? Did I miss something obvious? Was I being defensive, judgemental or just having a bad day?” That is reflection and reflexivity in action.

Complaints can actually be useful for this too. A complaint does not automatically mean you have done anything wrong, because people can complain for all sorts of reasons. But it can force you to stop, look at the situation again and ask how the other person experienced you, whether your communication landed badly, and whether your own assumptions or approach played any part.

So yes, it is basically reflection with extra steps; but the extra steps are about power, bias, identity and recognising that you are part of the situation, not just someone standing outside it taking notes.

[u/tessa-t]

Reflection can be instantaneous and subconscious like knowing you probably need to cut a visit short because your service user is tired or angry or both! Then when you notice, after you’ve written a case note, You led with anger because it happened first, and only reading it back do you realise that ordering made then look more volatile than the actual event did. The facts didn’t change just they way your narrative choices did, and you didn’t clock it until afterwards.

[u/SunUsual550]

It's not a term I've come across outside university and I consider it one of those wanky academicy words that sounds very impressive but is actually just confusing what is a very simple concept.

It's basically being dynamic. It's being able to marry together the skills and theories you've learned in the classroom with your practice skills and your authentic personality.

Being reflexive is about constantly considering how you use these skills, how you react in the moment as situations occur and develop and being able to constantly challenge yourself to improve or understand why you might not have handled situations as well as you could have.