Teacher Candidates' Metaphorical Perceptions of Older Family Members

This study was conducted on teacher candidates who had the opportunity to work with children, adolescents, young adults, adults and the elderly. We believed that determining the relationship between teacher candidates and their elders and their perceptions would help to plan classes and events for the elderly target group. For this purpose, the relationship between Physical Education and English Teacher and Psychological Counseling and Guidance senior students in education faculty and sport science faculty and their elders was investigated. Metaphors were examined and 13 different categories were developed based on common properties. When the results were investigated, the relationship were mostly defined as Restful (f=11), Informative (f=10), and Cautious (f=9). Other categories were listed as Commitment (f=6), Reassuring (f=6), Close (f=5), Non-developing (f=4), Appreciated (f=4), Distanced (f=4), Mandatory (f=3), and Variable (f=3). The categories with the least frequency were Conflicting (f=2) and Cared (f=2). According to the findings, it could be stated that teacher candidates had more positive perceptions towards their elders. Findings of the study are discussed below.


Introduction
As the living conditions became better due to developments in technology and science, human life had extended significantly. Correspondingly, the number of individuals in old age in society had increased drastically. Turkey is considered to be one of these societies. According to statistics, in 2012, the elderly population in Turkey was 5,682,003 and in 2016 the elderly population was 6,651,503. The ratio of the elderly population among total population was 7.5% in 2012, and had increased to 8.3% in 2016 [1]. Hence, according to the definition of the United Nations, if the ratio of elderly population within a country is between 8-10%, the population of that country is considered to be "old", whereas if the ratio is above 10%, the population of that country is considered "very old" [1]. By this metric, the population of Turkey could be referred to as "old." In addition to the global situation related to the elderly population, even though old age is the last stage of development, it is not possible to overrule or to ignore this stage. As in all other development stages, old age also witnesses various changes. Even though physical, mental, and functional losses in old age reveal psychological problems, wisdom, which is one of the most important cognitive properties, could emerge in old age [2].
In old age, visual and hearing losses [3], decreases in learning and memory capacity, longer reaction durations, and sleeping problems could significantly lower the quality of life [4]. Due to these possible health problems, old age could be perceived as a state to be avoided. Therefore, individuals could have negative attitudes and prejudices against old age.
Negative attitudes and prejudices towards old individuals and aging could lead to elder discrimination [5,6,7]. Some examples for negative attitude and prejudice towards old individuals could be given as follows; regarding elder individuals as intolerant, conservative, or obsessive people, regarding that older individuals had miserable and unhappy lives, they are isolated from society, they are dependent and non-productive individuals, and that they have physical and mental problems [8]. Ünalan, Soyuer, and Elmalı [9] stated that the negative attitudes of the society towards the elderly and aging could negatively affect the health services of elder people. A similar situation was valid for other services areas regarding physical, psychological, social, and cognitive development of elder people.
Dinçer, Usta, and Bulduk [10] stated that a comprehensive education should be planned and applied for the university students who could encounter elder individuals on every stage of their life. Negative attitudes toward elder individuals and aging could effectively be overcome with education. Therefore, teachers and students should gain positive attitude towards elder individuals with related classes and courses. Transferring these positive attitudes to the next generation using education was considered as an important attribute. The classes and courses in question could be beneficial for determining the perceptions of teacher candidates towards elderly individuals.
As mentioned earlier, there could be various physical and psychological problems in older age. Psychologic problems of elder individuals could be related with their experiences in their youth as well as certain developmental risk factors (loss of partner, retirement, menopause/andropause, social isolation, chronic illnesses, fear of being dependent, fear of death etc.) [11]. Accordingly individuals would require psychological help services during older age. Therefore, to meet this demand, there is a need for informed and skilled mental health experts.
Physical exercise was considered as an effective method to increase positive emotions and decrease negative emotions. For example, yoga could improve the psychological problems of elders (anger, anxiety, depression, well-being, self-sufficiency etc.), increase in sleeping quality and sufficiency, and a decrease in tiredness, and in depression levels [12,13]. Physical exercise was also recommended for cognitive functions. Response time could increase, the mind could function properly, and reasoning could be more accurate when an individual regularly exercises [14,2]. When the importance of exercising in old age was considered, there would be a need for capable experts to work with this specific group.
Sensory stimulation was considered as one of the effective methods to avoid decelerating the learning ability in older age. When elder people retire and move away from social interaction, the cognitive abilities could decrease. As the social interaction levels increase; effort for internalization and coping increases and desperation decreases [14,15,2]. In sum, physical or cognitive socialization of elders could positively affect cognitive and psychological states.
Education teachers in Turkey were intended for pre-school, elementary, and high school education. However, increase in elder population and life-long learning approach; there is a need for creating new learning opportunities for elders. In this context, teacher candidates should gain information and skill to work with such groups. By determining the relationship between teachers and elder individuals as well as the attitude towards elder, could support to build related classes and events. Therefore, in this study, Psychological Counseling and Guidance, English and Physical education teacher candidates in the senior year who had the highest possibility to encounter elders were selected as the study group.
If we consider the increase in the elder population in Turkey as well as in other countries, services to ease the adaptation of elder individuals should be more common. According to literature, there were certain researches that investigated the perception of elder people [16,10,17]. To contribute to the visibility of this need, our study was based on a life-long learning approach and we investigated the metaphorical perception of teacher candidates towards older family members.

Participants
In this study, descriptive analysis was selected as one of the qualitative research patterns. Purposive sampling method which is the one of the improbable sampling technique was used to select the research sample. In qualitative research, the selection of the sample group considered appropriate for the purpose of the research is widely used. The participants of the study consisted of 2016-2017 academic year senior students from education faculties of two different universities (19-25 age, =21,6). The participants of the study were selected among students who provide services to individuals in all development stages, from childhood to elderly life. Accordingly, total of 69 teacher candidates were selected from Psychological Counseling and Guidance (34), English Teacher (16), and Physical Education Teacher (19) departments.

Procedures
The data for the study was collected using a questionnaire that determined the relationship between participants and grandparents (if they haven't grandparents, other elder people in their family) and the questions had the questionnaire of "My relationship with my grandparents is like ...., because....". Data collection was conducted in two ways. Some of the participants were given questionnaire in the class environment and the participants answered the questions on these questionnaires. The remaining participants had received the questionnaire in e-mail format and the questions were answered. The objective of the study was explained written and oral forms.

Data Analysis
The data of the study were investigated using metaphor analysis of qualitative data analysis techniques. Morgan [18] stated that metaphors could be used for two purposes; stating a status and accelerating or improving a process. Metaphors were depicted as they are when there was a state, event or phenomena. In this study, metaphors were used for descriptive purposes.
When the researches on metaphor analysis were investigated [19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26], the stages were analysis and interpretation, denotation, classification, category development, reliability and validity. In this study, data analysis and interpretation was as follows: In the first stage of data analysis, a table was created with metaphors of the participants and explanations about these metaphors. 22 participants who had not defined any metaphor or had not provided an explanation were excluded from the study.
In the second stage, the answers that will be evaluated were investigated in terms of content. Moser [27] stated that metaphorical structure of a statement depends on the context. For example, when "it has gone beyond the borders" statement was used in a tennis match context, the statement was not considered as a metaphorical expression, because "tennis ball" physical boundaries of the tennis court. Same statements were metaphorical when it was referenced to behaviour. For example, "the behaviours have gone beyond the borders" Here, behaviour was explained using a sports term and the suitability of the behaviour was tried to be explained. Therefore, metaphors of the participants, subject of metaphor, source of metaphor, and the relationship between these two were investigated. The investigation showed that not all participants had generated valid metaphors. These metaphors were stated as "weak structured metaphors." The evaluation was based on whether the metaphor had source, whether there were logical reasons, whether the metaphor had more than one category, and whether the concept was understandable. Some examples for the weak structured metaphors based on these criteria were given as follows: My After 35 weak structured metaphors were excluded, total of 69 valid metaphors were present. In the third stage, metaphors generated by participants towards their grandmother and grandfather were categorized based on common properties. In these processes, 13 different styles conceptual categories were achieved. When the categories were generated, statements such as since grandparents are at the last stage of their life, this relationship is defined as losable, were included underappreciated category. One the metaphors included in this category was as follows: My relationship with my grandparents is like a flower about to wither, because they are becoming more fragile day by day. I realize that their life on this earth is close to the end and I am talking to them as if I am watering, loving, and look them for the last time. I am looking at them as I regret of the past since I didn't pay attention to them. Similarly, statements that emphasized to be a part of a whole were included in connectedness category. For example, my relationship with my grandparents is like the two halves of an apple, because they have separate places in my hearth.
In this study, when weak structured metaphors were determined and when categories were generated, the evaluations were separate. Two evaluations were merged and after a consensus was achieved in all metaphors, the last form of metaphor and category list was provided.
In the last stage, to test the validity and reliability, the reasons to use methods and patterns, properties of the study group, how the data was collected were investigated and the results were presented. Yıldırım and Şimşek [28] stated that reporting the data in detail and explaining how the results were obtained, was an important validity measurement. In this context, the data analysis processes (and especially how the conceptual categories were generated) was explained in detail. Ekiz [29] stated that one of the validity types in qualitative analysis was descriptive validity. Descriptive validity could be defined as the validity that presents the subject of investigation in reality without altering or selecting the results based on the perspective of the researchers. In this sense, each metaphor and corresponding statement were given as examples. The 2152 Teacher Candidates' Metaphorical Perceptions of Older Family Members statements were presented as direct quotes, and the descriptive validity of the research was tried to be obtained.
For the internal consistency of the research, metaphors presented under 13 conceptual categories were presented to experts to determine whether the conceptual category in question reflects the metaphors. Therefore, two lists including metaphors and conceptual categories were presented to a faculty member who had prior knowledge on qualitative research. The expert was asked to match the metaphors on the first list to the categories in the second list. Additionally, the expert was reminded that he/she could create a different category. The matching of the expert was compared with the matching of the researches. According to the comparison, consensus and divergence were considered and Miles and Huberman [30] formula (reliability = consensus / (consensus + divergence) x 100) was used for calculating the reliability of the research. Expert had placed nine metaphors in different categories. The reliability was calculated as (60/60+9) x 100 = 87% and the reliability of the study was inside the acceptable region.

Findings
In this section, the findings were presented regarding the metaphors of the teacher candidates towards grandparents. Below, these categories and correspond metaphors were explained. Additionally, direct quotes from the statements of the participants were included.

Conceptual Categories Regarding the Relationship with Grandparents
When Table 1 was investigated, it could be seen that participant have stated metaphors in Restful (f=11, 15.9%) and Informative (f=10, 14.5%) categories. The least number of metaphors could be observed in Cared (f=2, 2.9%) and Conflicting (f=2, 2.9%) categories. Categories in question, general properties of these categories, and statements of the participants regarding the metaphors in the related category were stated below.

Category 1: Relationship Based on Connectedness
There are 6 metaphors under this category. In this category, majority of the participant had used the metaphors of tree or plane tree. Metaphors generated in this category were emphasizing to be a part of a whole, lineage connection, and being a member of the same family. Below, examples from the statements of the participants were presented for the metaphors.
My relationship with my grandparents is like a plane tree, because I am the branches and they are the root of the tree.
My relationship with my grandparents is like a train wagon, because even though it is not attached to the train, the wagon is a part of the train.
My relationship with my grandparents is like the two halves of an apple, because they have separate places in my hearth.

Category 10: Appreciated Relationship
There are 4 metaphors under this category. Metaphors in this category showed that grandmother and grandfather were seen as individuals who are at the last stage of their life. Therefore, the participants defined their relationship with their grandparents as a valuable relationship that can be lost in any minute. Below, examples from the statements of the participants were presented for the metaphors.
My relationship with my grandparents is like an old radio, because sometimes the interference in the sound bothers me however it is extremely important and valuable for me. Seeing it in the corner in one piece makes me relief.
My relationship with my grandparents is like an opportunity that will never happened, because since I am in another city, I can hardly see them and I miss them, we need to appreciate the time we are spending together My relationship with my grandparents is like a soap, because when I want to hold it, it will slip at some point.
My relationship with my grandparents is like a flower about to wither, because they are becoming more fragile day by day. I realize that their life on this earth is close to the end and I am talking to them as if I am watering, loving, and look them last time. I am looking at them as I regret of the past since I didn't pay attention to them.

Category 11: Distanced Relationship
There are 4 metaphors under this category. Metaphors in this category emphasized distanced and insatiable relationship. Statements in this category had the common property of not feeling close and not seeing frequently.
Below, examples from the statements of the participants were presented for the metaphors.
My relationship with my grandparents is like appetizer, because it is neither fulfilling nor cold.
My relationship with my grandparents is like ice; I cannot even call it a relationship. They are actually warm and moderate. However, I don't prefer to be involved in a relationship. Maybe it is because we always lived in different cities.

My relationship with my grandparents is like winter, because I don't feel close to them and I think things are cold between us.
My relationship with my grandparents is like a fruit tree, because we see each other only in the summer.

Category 12: Close Relationship
There are 5 metaphors under this category. Metaphors in this category emphasized close, friendly, comfortable, and engaging relationship between grandparents. Statements in this category correspond to love and understanding. Below, examples from the statements of the participants were presented for the metaphors.
My relationship with my grandparents is like two good friends, because both sides will not hurt each other or make them sad.
My relationship with my grandparents is like a kitten, because they always love me.

My relationship with my grandparents is like Metin-Ali-Feyyaz 1 , because I can tell everything comfortably.
My relationship with my grandparents is like a cool breeze, because even though there are conflicts and disagreements, we could solve these without hurting each other.
My relationship with my grandparents is like a summer rain, because even though we could not agree on some points, we can listen to each other in a calm manner.

Category 13: Mandatory Relationship
There are 3 metaphors under this category. Metaphors generated in this category emphasized a mandatory relationship to be endured for the family without any closeness. Statements in this category also emphasized the relationship as a duty to be fulfilled, realized, and respected.
Below, examples from the statements of the participants were presented for the metaphors.
My relationship with my grandparents is like commander and soldier, because I feel like it is our duty to make them happy, our mother and father had done this for a life time so now it is our turn. My

Discussion
This study was conducted on teacher candidates who had the opportunity to work with children, adolescents, young adults, adults and the elderly. For this purpose, we had asked senior students from three different majors in education and sport science faculty how they perceive their relationship with their grandparents. Metaphors were investigated and 13 different categories were developed based on common properties. When the findings were investigated, the relationship were mostly defined as Restful, Informative, and Cautious (f=9). The categories with the least frequency were Conflicting and Cared. According to these findings, it was shown that the relationship between teacher candidates and their grandparents were positive, close, and has safety emotions. On the other hand, the findings showed that the relationship should have cautious structure. Findings of this study share similarities with results of [17,31,10]. Similarly, Boz et al. [16] stated in their study on health science students that an elder individual in the family, living with them or seeing them frequently, increased the positive attitudes toward elders.
Participants had defined grandparents as soft, sweet, sparkling object or states with the metaphors generated in Restful category. Hazer [32] stated that based on the traditional structure of Turkish society, love for grandchildren has a separate place, and taking care of grandchildren, spending time with them, and helping the parents was considered as a happy experience. Therefore, establishing a relationship with the grandchildren generates spiritual satisfaction on grandparents. Grandparents regarded their grandchildren as more valuable than their own children [33]. Therefore, it could be stated that grandparents have closer, warmer, and satisfactory relationship with their grandchildren.
When the metaphors in Informative category were investigated, it could be seen that participants perceive the relationship with grandparents as a guidance, consultant, and education. Even though old age was regarded as a period where cognitive losses appear; it will be inappropriate to state this period is on standstill or regression. Onur [2] stated that in the old age, one of the most valuable cognitive properties, wisdom, could become visible. Wisdom is a type of information that provides the reality, meaning, and purpose of life. Traditionally, it was expected that wisdom increases with age and it is considered as a cognitive dimension. It is the quality of human behaviour and understanding. It is the combination of intuition, enthusiasm, and knowledge that could be hard to achieve with few life experiences [2]. In this sense, it could be said that participants were benefiting from life-long experiences of the individuals.
The meaning of the elder people could differ in each society. In the Turkish context, elder people were regarded as individuals who can transfer the experiences in life. Ögel [34] stated that "wise man" understanding was one of the most common beliefs in old Turkish tribes. In other words, elder people were considered as wise man in fables, fairy tales, stories, legends, and daily routine of Turkish society. We think that metaphors generated by the participants were projecting this situation.
Metaphors in Cautious category defined the relationship with grandparents as beautiful if there were boundaries; however, the individuals should always be cautious since anything could go wrong. The explanations of this category emphasized that grandparents were resentful. Decrease in physical strength, health impairments, children taking their decisions as adults could lead the elder individuals to think that they are no longer needed. However, McCrae and Costa [35] stated that personality is constant in adulthood, and there could be slight changes after 30. The authors emphasized that typing elder people as withdrawn, depressive, or rigid were unfounded. From this point of view, perceiving the grandparents as resentful could be caused by differences in perspective. Different generations could emphasize different meanings to same values; therefore could have different perspectives. Thus, this situation could lead conflicts and offense between two generations. It is believed that this explanation is valid for the participant who had described their relationship with grandparents as Variable. Metaphors in this category defined the relationship with grandparents as a relationship with positive and negative sides. It is believed that this situation directs young people to be more cautious towards elders. It is though that perceiving the grandparents could die anytime could lead for such perspective. In this study, metaphors in Appreciated category showed that young people defined grandparents as individuals on the last stage of their life; therefore, these individuals should be appreciated.
Some participants defined the relationship as Connectedness, Restful, and Close. Altan [36] emphasized that Turkish family structure and function do not change in the same manner. This means while extended family structure transformed into elementary family structure, family and affinity relationships were still important. Even though people no longer share the same house, support and help continued to exist. In addition to monetary support, help was requested from mothers and fathers for child care where care and livelihood of elder mother and father was on adult children. In another words, in Turkish society, parents were always ready to help their children even though they are adults. It is considered as the fundamental component of being a family. Thus, family members could feel safer. The safety feeling provided individuals to view themselves as an inseparable part of a whole. Hence, in Connectedness category, the "whole" created by the family members was emphasized. This bound within the family provided opportunity to strengthen the communication, to increase the trust and appreciation between family members, therefore to establish a closer relationship.
Although the number was low, some of the participants defined the relationship with their grandmother and grandfather as Conflicting, Distanced, and Non-developing. This situation could be caused by the development needs of individuals in different development periods and differences in living purposes. Uçanok [37] stated that young adults mainly emphasized work, family, and economic objectives whereas the elder individuals emphasized health, social activities, and personal interests. In other words, living purposes, people in their lives, status, and values could also change among individuals in different development period. This situation could create conflicts.
Some of the participants defined the relationship with their grandparents as Mandatory. Taşçı [38] stated that being old in traditional family context (either for male or female) meant being "responsible", however, as the family structures begin to change this meaning has shifted to "problematic". Although there are certain changes in the Turkish society, traditional family type is still valid. Most of the male population desired to grow old with their sons. They believe their status will increase [39]. As the participants perceived the relationship between them and their grandmother and grandfather could be the projection of a cultural acceptance. However, dealing with the elderly, who become individuals who need to be cared for due to declining age and deteriorating health, can become a troublesome process for caregivers. Bilgili [40] stated that 63.3% of the individuals who provided elderly care had negative attitudes towards living together with elderly people due to mental states of the individuals. Çatak, Öner, Kılınç, Sütlü, and Şenbayram [41] stated that approximately six out of ten home caregivers for elderly did have mental symptoms. In conclusion, communication with elderly people could be challenge process for individuals. However, participant who perceived grandparents as Cared individuals and individuals who live in a culture where care for elderly is a responsibility, the relationship with grandparents could be perceived as mandatory.

Conclusions
This study was conducted on teacher candidates who had the possibility to work with individuals in different developmental stage. For this purpose, the relationship between Physical Education and English Teacher and Psychological Counseling and Guidance senior students in education faculty and sport science faculty and their elder was investigated. Metaphors were investigated and 13 different categories were developed based on common properties. When the results were investigated, the relationship were mostly defined as Restful (f=11), Informative (f=10), and Cautious (f=9). Other categories were listed as Commitment (f=6), Reassuring (f=6), Close (f=5), Non-developing (f=4), Appreciated (f=4), Distanced (f=4), Mandatory (f=3), and Variable (f=3). The categories with the least frequency were Conflicting and Cared. According to the findings, it could be stated that teacher candidates had more positive perception towards elders.
The elderly population is rapidly increasing in Turkey as well as in other countries around the world. In this context, care and treatment services for elder individuals would be insufficient for their development and life satisfaction. In line with lifelong learning approach, by supporting the development of elder people, it is possible to create new business fields for young people. In our country, teachers are only considered in pre-school, elementary, and high school education. Teacher candidates in the education faculty are educated according to this approach. However, some of the faculties included in this study as well as other foreign languages departments, and fine arts departments have the opportunity to work with all age groups. Yet, when the programs were investigated, it can be seen that the students in these departments only had developmental psychology and no other classes related with elder individuals. Broadening their knowledge in this area could increase the opportunity to find a job. Therefore, classes regarding to working with elder people could be added to programs.
In this study, the perception of the participants towards grandparents was determined positive. Class subjects could be created based on this information. In the future researches, relationship or perception of the teacher candidates in other departments towards elder individuals could be investigated. In line with the positive/negative perception, class subjects could be adjusted to change the negative perception and eliminate the prejudices.
In this study, the participants were asked to define what did the relationship between them grandparents resembled to. In this sense, the study was limited with the elder people in the family of participants. Future researches could try to determine the perception related with old age, towards elder people, and with elder people.