Determining the death metaphors of nursing students: a phenomenological research study

Abstract

Aim: In this study, the aim was to determine the perceptions about death of the students studying in the nursing department through metaphors. Materials and Methods: In this research, the phenomenology pattern, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used. 169 students who study at a foundation university participated in the study, and sample selection was not done. The students were asked to complete the sentence ‘death is like…/similar.’/‘Because …..’. Results: The analysis of content was done in the analysis of metaphors. 79.9% of the students are women, and 29.9% are second grade students. The students produced 11 different metaphors for the concept of death. The metaphors that they produce were collected into four categories: Infinity, ambiguity, end, and inception Conclusion: Handling and talking about the concept of death can make the approach of nurses involved in end-of-life care to death easier. The studies evaluating nursing students’ beliefs and perceptions about death are recommended

Keywords

• Nursing students
• Attitude to death
• Metaphor
• death

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