Nursing Students` Perceptions Of Pain: A Metaphor Analysis

Authors : Sevda Korkut, Türkan Ülker

Pages : 77-88

View : 50 | Download : 41

Publication Date : 2025-03-21

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Aim: This study was conducted to determine the metaphors of nursing students about pain. Metod: In this study, the phenomenology method, which is one of the qualitative research designs, was used. The research was carried out with the nursing students with the online survey method created through Google Forms. The students were asked to complete the sentence “Pain is like … because …”. Descriptive and content analysis methods were used in the evaluation of qualitative data. Results: The data of a total of 249 students were included in the study. In this research, in line with the answers given by the participants, the categories of signs/stimulus, guilt, captive, learn one’s lesson/take a lesson, struggle, enemy, torture, inevitable end, tangle, riddle, intimidation, threat/danger, balance/scale and infinite space were created. Conclusions: The students explained pain from different aspects. Some students mentioned its benefits for the body and stated that it gives a warning to the body. Others focused on the reason, stated that it was punishment, and talked about feelings of guilt. Some students focused on the severe symptoms they experienced while experiencing pain and stated that these symptoms tortured them. Some students likened this tormenting experience to the enemy and described the situation in between as a struggle. It is possible to see the complex and multidimensional structure of pain from the expressions of the students.
Keywords : Metafor, Hemşirelik, Ağrı