Where’s the Evidence? Contemporary Insights in the Impact of Reflective Practice on Professional Practice

Within the sport, exercise and health science domains researchers and practitioners interested in understanding factors and processes associated with competent and effective practice have advocated the value and contribution of reflective practice. In spite of this, until more recently there remained a lack of empirical evidence to support these contentions, which potentially stifled the acceptance of reflective practice throughout the applied practice community. To broadcast this contemporary empirical evidence to the sport, exercise and health science communities, this chapter provides a review of recent research carried out with diverse populations across numerous contexts. Findings are provided and discussed to support the contentions that carefully designed reflective practice interventions are efficacious in: (i) developing more advanced reflection skills; and (ii) having a positive impact on measurable and desirable outcomes. As a result of the research presented within this chapter, we introduce a model that aims to link together recent conceptual developments with rigorous scientific evidence to further explicate why reflective practice works.