Views of senior nursing students on the concept of old age: a metaphor study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Metaphors are part of everyday language as they help us to communicate effectively and allow us to reveal meaning to concepts. Older adults have been described using metaphors like ‘Tsunami’ in western countries. However, it is unknow which metaphors are used to describe older adults in Turkey. The aim of this study was to reveal the perceptions of the concept of aging among fourth year nursing students through metaphors. This study employed phenomenology, which is a qualitative research design. All fourth-year nursing students in the Nursing Department of the Faculty of Health Sciences of a Turkish university constituted the study population. The study was completed with the participation of 60 students. The data were collected in May-June 2022. To reveal the metaphors that each nursing student considered representative for the concept of ‘aging,’ they were asked to complete the following sentence: ‘Aging is like … because … .’ In qualitative research, metaphors can help simplify complex and/or multidimensional concepts through connecting one familiar concept to another familiar one, resulting in the comparison between the two concepts opening up new possibilities and perspectives. Metaphors provide structure to data and aid understanding of a familiar process in a new light. The metaphors and their justifications, written by students in their own handwriting, were used as the main data source in this study. Students completed the questionnaire in one session. The completion of the form took approximately 20 minutes. The mean age of the students was 22.5 ± 1.4 years, and 78.3% of them were female. In analyzing the data, a content analysis approach comprising coding, the identification of themes, and grouping of data according to codes and themes was used. The metaphors produced by the students were categorized as ‘positive’ and ‘negative.’ In the positive category, there were 10 metaphors formed by 43 (71.7%) nursing students. Fourteen metaphors by 17 (28.3%) nursing students were identified in the negative category. The most commonly used metaphors were found to be ‘tree,’ ‘flower,’ ‘kid,’ and ‘book.’ It was observed that the students perceived the concept of old age as a process that helped individuals gain knowledge and experience and a guiding process. In order to increase and maintain a positive attitude toward the older people, it can be recommended to include more topics and practices related to old age.