Perceptions of third and fourth year nursing students enrolled in a pediatric nursing course regarding the concept of child abuse: A metaphorical study

Abstract

BackgroundChild abuse is an important public health problem as it negatively affects the child's development as well as the child's family and therefore society. Nurses are one of the most important members of the team caring for child abuse victims and are indispensable in terms of child and family education. ObjectivesThe research was carried out to determine the perceptions of third and fourth year nursing students, who took the Child Health and Diseases Nursing course, about child abuse through metaphor. DesignThe research was carried out with the metaphor analysis technique based on the phenomenological method. “Metaphor analysis” is a technique based on the phenomenological research method within the qualitative research methods. SettingsThe study was conducted at a state university in Turkey. ParticipantsWhile the population of the research consisted of nursing department students in a facility, the sample consisted of third and fourth year nursing students who took the Child Health and Diseases Nursing Course. In the study in which 186 nursing students volunteered to participate, the study was completed with 174 students, since the answers of 12 students did not contain metaphors. 174 students who took the course participated in the research. MethodsThe data were collected using the Student Information Form and the metaphor sentence “Child abuse is like … because…” questioning the perceptions of child abuse from June to August 2021. ResultsAt the time of the research, it was determined that all third and fourth year nursing students who took the Child Health and Diseases Nursing course in the institution had negative metaphors about “child abuse”. The harm caused by child abuse to the child and the future has often been compared to natural disasters and catastrophes. Metaphors produced for the perception of “Child Abuse”; it is grouped under a total of five categories: Disaster, Damage, Never Beginning, Never Been Like Before, and Hunting. ConclusionsChild abuse is a medical, pediatric and public health problem that must be reported. Nursing students' perceptions of the subject are very important, as it is among the duties, responsibilities and roles of nurses. The fact that child abuse is perceived by student nurses as the strong hurting the weak, the irreversible harm, or the fact that something good ends before it begins, reveals the importance of the situation. It clearly reflects the necessity of a course on child abuse in the nursing curriculum. Tweetable abstractIt is important to evaluate the perceptions of child abuse of nursing undergraduate students. @dilek_fatos.