Metaphors of nursing students on the perception of mental illness: A qualitative study

Objectives: The aim of this study is to examine the metaphors nursing students use for the concept of "Mental Illness" to identify their perceptions on this subject. Methods: The research was carried using a phenomenological design, a qualitative research technique. The study group of the research included a total of 496 nursing students studying at Ankara University Faculty of Health Sciences Nursing Department in the 2017-2018 academic year. A form titled, "Metaphorical Perceptions Data Collection Form", which was prepared by the researchers in line with the literature, was used for data collection. On this form, every participating student was asked to fill in the gaps in the following sentence: "Mental illness is like………………… because………………… ". Analysis of data consisted of 5 steps: S1) identification of metaphors, (2) classification of metaphors, (3) category development, (4) validation and reliability and (5) data transfer to SPSS package program for quantitative data analysis. Results: The students produced a total of 353 valid metaphors for the concept of mental illness. The metaphors obtained were examined in terms of their common characteristics and collected under seven conceptual categories, namely, mental illness as “desperation”, “an uncontrollable condition”, “a need for care, attention, and support”, “uncertainty”, “a damaging element”, “an impact-response”, and “an element requiring effort”. Conclusion: The results revealed that the students' mental illness-related metaphors were largely negative. In the light of these results, it can be recommended that vocational education focuses on transforming the negative perceptions students have on mental illness into more positive images. To achieve this, it is suggested that the number of course hours on this subject be increased and that practical activities related to this subject be organized. © 2021 by Journal of Psychiatric Nursing.