Table 1.

PICOs inclusion and exclusion criteria

	Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria
Search #1: Theories of reflection in medical education
Population	• Healthcare personnel and educators in allied health specialities and medicine • Undergraduate and postgraduate medical students • Physicians	• Non-healthcare educators and specialities
Intervention	• Papers addressing theory building relevant to reflection or reflective practices in education	• Evaluation of reflective practices without reference to theory relating to reflection or reflective practices in education • Evaluation of reflective practices for purposes other than improving reflective capacity of users • Papers with little detail on implementation or assessment details of reflective writing
Comparison Outcome	• Comparison of various modes of reflective practices and how they differed in terms of theory • Impact of the use of reflective writing within the clinical, medical, research and/or academic settings  Papers that discussed reflective writing without the above comparisons were also included
Study design	• All study designs including mixed methods research, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, descriptive papers, grey literature, opinions, letters, commentaries and editorials • Articles in English or translated to English • Year of Publication: Jan 2000–Jun 2022	• Non-English language articles
Search #2: Reflective writing in medical education
Population	• Junior doctors, residents, specialists and/or doctors and/or physicians and/or medical students within the clinical, medical, research and/or academic settings • Undergraduate and postgraduate medical students	• Allied health specialties such as Pharmacy, Dietetics, Chiropractic, Midwifery, Podiatry, Speech Therapy, Occupational and Physiotherapy, Physician Assistants • Non-medical specialties such as Clinical and Translational Science, Alternative and Traditional Medicine, Veterinary, Dentistry
Intervention	• Papers that addressed the incorporation of reflective writing for junior doctors, residents, specialists and/or doctors and/or physicians and/or medical students within the clinical, medical, research and/or academic settings • Papers that addressed assessment of reflective writing	• Papers with little detail of implementation or assessment of reflective writing in curriculum • Papers that evaluated reflective writing for purposes other than improving reflective capacity of users
Comparison Outcome	Papers that addressed the following comparisons were also included:  • Comparison of the various uses of reflective writing in different teaching settings  • Evaluation of the effectiveness of reflective writing in comparison to other educational interventions  • Papers that discussed reflective writing without the above comparisons were also included Papers that measured the following outcomes were also included:  • Impact of the use of reflective writing on junior doctors, residents, specialists and/or doctors and/or physicians and/or medical students within the clinical, medical, research and/or academic settings  • Impact of the use of reflective writing on teaching  • Impact of the use of reflective writing on assessment  • Gaps and improvements to current reflective writing programs
Study design	• All study designs including: mixed methods research, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, descriptive papers, grey literature, opinions, letters, commentaries and editorials • Articles in English or translated to English • Year of Publication: Jan 2000–Jun 2022	• Non-English language articles