Abstract:

Introduction and Purpose: Metaphors are powerful tools used in describing people’s perceptions of a particular phenomenon in a more detail. The purpose of this research is to determine the perceptions of the students of dentistry about the pedodonty department through metaphors. Method and Requirements: The work group consisted of 441 students from the Faculty of Dentistry selected with facilitation sampling. To the participants, the expression, "Pedodonti Clinic is like ...., because ......." was filled. It was studied in which conceptual categories the metaphors produced concerning the Pedodontian section were gathered, whether there were significant differences between these conceptual categories according to the gender and classes of participants (preclinical or clinical). The study used a karma method in which qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques were used together. Results: According to the research results, the metaphors produced by students regarding the pedodonty department were divided into 4 conceptual categories. These are: 1) a educational place, 2) a frightening place, 3) a healing place, and 4) the pedodonty section as a place like the playground. There was no statistically meaningful difference between the groups in terms of gender (p>.05). There were statistically significant differences between the groups according to the class level (p<.05). Clinical students showed a higher distribution in the educational and therapeutic categories, while pre-clinical students showed a higher distribution in the scary and play field categories. The study with the metafor analysis found that this study was a useful measurement tool in determining the perceptions of dental students.

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