Abstract:

Currently, Turkish population has been ageing and the number of the elderly people who are placing into nursing homes has been increasing. Due to urbanization, women’s increased participation in labour force and ideational change from collectivism to individualism, the nursing home, as one of the bureaucratic organizations taking over the previous functions of the family, has been emerged as a facet of population ageing. However, the issue on how and by whom the elderly care is performed is standing upon an ambiguous base in Turkey, where filial piety as a cultural norm has still been of great importance while modern lifestyles may restrain families from providing caregiving for their elderly members. Hence the issue concerned in this study can be approached from two distinct theoretical frameworks. Nursing homes in Turkey can be conceptualized as a remedy for the changing intergenerational relationships, as well as a total institution which reflects the very idea of institutional settings receiving negative public attitude.

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