Ethics Through Metaphors: A Qualitative Inquiry into Nursing Students’ Perceptions

Background: Ethical knowledge and values play a critical role in nursing practice, guiding professional behavior and decision-making in patient care. As the importance of ethics in nursing continues to grow, it is essential to introduce these concepts during undergraduate education, a formative period for professional identity development.

Aim: This study aimed to explore nursing students’ metaphorical perceptions of ethics and ethical values.

Methods: This qualitative study was conducted with 100 third-year nursing students at a university in Türkiye between March and June 2025. To explore their perceptions of ethics and ethical values, students were asked to complete the sentence: “Ethics/ethical values is like ……, because …….” The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis,which involved coding, theme identification, and categorization based on emergent themes.

Results: The mean age of the students in the sample was 20.93±1.37, and 76% of the students were female. Students produced 74 distinct metaphors for ethics and 80 for ethical values. The ethics-related metaphors were grouped into eight categories: guiding, balancing right and wrong, basic necessity, rule-setting, universal, organizing, ensuring transparency, and difficult to attain. Ethical values metaphors were classified into nine categories: sociality, individuality, guidance, importance, meaning-giving, limiting, fundamental, reciprocity, and time-related.

Conclusion: The findings revealed that students held largely positive perceptions of ethics and ethical values, often linking them to personal beliefs. Further research with diverse student groups and healthcare professionals is recommended to enhance understanding of ethical development.

Keywords: Ethical values, ethics, metaphor, nursing