var xmlRoot = this.req.responseXML;
var reasonRoot = xmlRoot.getElementsByTagName("reason")[0];
var attrs = reasonRoot.attributes;

var rest = reasonRoot.firstChild.nodeValue;
var item = attrs.getNamedItem("item").value;
var description = attrs.getNamedItem("description").value;

<reason item="" description="">
	<rest>Stuff</rest>
</reason>