Elderly People Volunteering in Long-Term Care Facilities In Izmir, Turkey

Social inclusion and participation, including civic engagements such as volunteering, can be regarded as an important factor in quality of life of individuals particularly among older people. In the context of longer post retirement years in Turkey, there is a general lack of public activities available for older people. While the nature of contemporary demographic changes signal an increasing demand for lo ng- term care (LTC) workforce there is also emerging evidence that quality of life can be enhanced for caregivers through volunteering and social involvement. The current study reports on research aimed to determine within the city of Izmir in Turkey: 1) the extent of voluntary work in for profit as well as non-profit residential LTC facilities, and 2) levels of participation of older people (60+) as volunteers in LTC facilities. The findings indicate that nearly 10 percent of Izmir LTC facilities benefits from older peoples voluntary work.