Integrated Reflective Cycle
Integrated Reflective Cycle
The Integrated Reflective Cycle is a simple but powerful model for students and professionals to engage in a meaningful reflective process on their practical experiences.
The Integrated Reflective Cycle (Bassot, 2013)
The Integrated Reflective Cycle is a simple but powerful model for students and professionals to engage in a meaningful reflective process on their practical experiences. Barbara Bassot created the Integrated Reflective Cycle by drawing on aspects of established reflective models, such as those by Gibbs and Schön, and structured them into a four-stage framework.
The four stages are
Experience → Reflection → Theory → Preparation
This model is useful for students in the areas of professions allied to medicine, health, education, and social work, or for anyone with a professional-development, reflective, or placement assignment.
What is the Integrated Reflective Cycle?
This model helps you reflect deeper by combining emotional understanding, critical thinking, and application/ownership of learning. Each stage has questions that prompt you to ask not just what happened, but also why, what it means, and how to take further steps to improve in the future.
| Stage | Purpose |
| Experience | Clearly describe the situation and context |
| Reflection on Action | Assess what worked well, What went wrong, what were the assumptions and emotions |
| Theory | Link the experience to academic models and professional knowledge |
| Preparation | Prepare a plan for how to apply this learning to your future practice |
1. Description
This is where you describe the circumstance you have chosen for reflection. Explain the context, who the participants involved were, what happened, and why the situation was important.
Guiding Questions:
- What was the situation?
- Who was involved, what where their actions?
- What brought on the circumstances?
Tip: Make your description clear enough that someone outside your work context would understand the situation.
2. Reflection on Action
At this stage, you will evaluate your thoughts, actions and responses. Reflection on action is where emotional intelligence and honest assessment comes into play.
Guiding Questions:
- What did I want to achieve?
- What were the influences on my actions?
- What were my feelings, and how did others respond?
- Were the assumptions I formed accurate?
Tip: Tip: This phase looks at feelings, assessment and outcomes in an analytical way all in one.
3. Theory
In this stage of reflection, you will use scholarly literature or professional frameworks to make sense of the experience. This stage is extremely important in changing a personal experience into a an academic or profession learning experience.
Guiding Questions:
- What theories or models are relevant to this experience?
- How has my understanding of the concept changed?
- What does research say about this type of experience?
Tip: Connect your actions to any established frameworks (e.g., communication models, codes of ethics, theories on management).
4. Preparation
The final stage allows you to establish explicit, realistic objectives on how to adopt your approach in comparable situations in the future.
Guiding Questions:
- What would I do differently next time?
- In what ways can I utilize the knowledge and skills I have gained?
- What strategies would help my professional development?
Tip: You need to be precise – general goals like “do better” are less helpful than saying, “I will practice core messages prior to the presentation.”
Example in Practice: Medical Consultation Scenario
A student conducting a supervised patient interview was too rigid in using a checklist, which prevented them from developing rapport with the patient. They were nervous, which inhibited their flexibility, and their supervisor had to step in and finish. When they reflected on this incident, they realised they were preoccupied with “getting it right” and less so with fitting the encounter around the needs of the patient. They were able to relate this to the Calgary-Cambridge model of consultation and learned that frameworks are there to improve, not replace practice. For the future, they resolved to utilize calming techniques, prioritise patient calm, and use their notes more dynamically.