The proportion of older people in Turkey is increasing steadily with the subsequent growth of long-term care (LTC) needs. There is a scarcity of formal care provisions for residential and particularly nonresidential settings. Thus, formal caregiving is not meeting LTC needs nor attracting workers as a labour option.
The authors examine the hypothesis that LTC may offer work opportunities for women unfamiliar with caregiving as an occupation and also examine the need and acceptance of different types of LTC beyond residential care. The authors evaluate an innovative project introducing these two elements to 76 women in İzmir, Turkey, using an analysis framework that incorporates factors related to applications and progression; management assessment; trainees’ self-assessment reflecting on their views on ageing; and older people’s perception of the experience and its impact on their well-being.
Trainees reported a major positive shift in their attitudes toward working in LTC and toward the ageing process. Users reported discovering a new dimension to care, which directly affected their quality of life. Overall, this community-based initiative appeared effective in enhancing the awareness of the concept of adult day centres providing a social model of care and appears promising in addressing the growing need for formal LTC in Turkey.
Hussein, S. & Öglak, S. (2013) Training unemployed women for adult day care in Izmir, Turkey: A Program Evaluation, Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 35(2): 152-170.
Founder and Director
Shereen Hussein is a Health and Social Care Policy professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), United Kingdom.
Shereen Founded the MENARAH Network in 2019, through an initial grant from the Global Challenge Research Fund, UKRI. She is a medical demographer with expertise in ageing, family dynamics, migration and long-term care systems. Shereen regularly collaborates with the United Nations, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank in policy and research focused on ageing in the Middle East and North Africa Region.
Shereen received her undergraduate degree in statistics and a postgraduate degree in computer science at Cairo University. She completed an MSc in medical demography at the London School of Hygiene and a PhD in quantitative demography and population studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom.
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