Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2010 , Vol 56 , Num 1

Social Policies Regarding Elderly People in Turkey and in the World

Ülkü Görgülü 1 ,İmatullah Akyar 2 ,Nuran Akdemir 2 ,Sevgi Sun Kapucu 3
1 Gazi Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Hemşirelik Yüksekokulu, Ankara
2 Hacettepe Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi, Hemşirelik Bölümü İç Hastalıkları Hemşireliği Anabilim Dalı, Ankara
3 Hacettepe Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi, Hemşirelik Bölümü İç Hastalıkları Hemşireliği, Ankara, Türkiye

Today, social care and support for the elderly gain more importance due to problems associated with institutionalization, lack of social support, dependency, loss in socio-economic status, and care dependency. Providing nursing assurance for elderly population, who face the risk and/or problem of care dependency, is one of the primary tasks of governments. Implementation of the policies on protecting elderly people is not sufficient in underdeveloped and developing countries, compared with developed countries. In order to ensure the social welfare of the elderly, policies should be established in developed countries with aging population and in developing countries, such as Turkey, with increasing number of elderly population. In addition, elderly community-oriented appropriate care models must be created. 

Keywords : Elderly, social policy, social care