Diş hekimliği öğrencilerinin pedodonti kliniğine ilişkin metaforik algıları

Abstract

Aim: Metaphors are strong tools used in describing the perceptions of people about a certain phenomenon in detail.The aim of this study was to determine the perceptions ofdental students towards pediatric dentistry clinic (PDC) through metaphors.Materials and Methods:The study group consisted of 441dental students (DS) who were selected by conveniencesampling method. The participants were asked to fill in gapsin the statement “PDC is like ………, because ………”. The conceptual categories under which the metaphors produced aboutPDC were investigated and also examined whether therewere any significant differences between these conceptualcategories in terms of the genders and grades (preclinical orclinical) of the participants. The mixed method including thequantitative and qualitative data collection techniques wasused for statistical analysis.Results:DS produced 320 valid metaphors under a total of17 sample metaphors that best reflect all of them. The metaphors were collected under 4 conceptual categories which are; PDC is like; 1) an educative place; 2) a curative place;3) a playground place; and 4) a scary place. No statisticallysignificant differences were found between the groups interms of gender (p>0.05). A statistically significant differencewas found between the groups in terms of grades (p<0.05).While clinical dental students showed a heavy distribution ineducative and curative categories, preclinical dental studentsshowed a distribution mostly in scary and playground category.Conclusion: Metaphor analysis was seen as a beneficial measurement tool in determining the perceptions of the dentalstudents.