Promoting healthy life style and self-management of elderly people with non -communicable diseases in Turkey and among transnational elderly Turkish migrants living in Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Promoting healthy life style and self-management of elderly people with non -communicable diseases in Turkey and among transnational elderly Turkish migrants living in Europe

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Migrants’ issues; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

Turkish migrants are one of the largest groups of migrants in Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. While they are still younger than the respective majority population in these countries, demographic ageing is also visible in this group (Ooijevaar et al. 2016)(Statistisches Bundesamt 2018). As this population ages, its risk for age-associated diseases increases steadily as well, as does the absolute number of individuals suffering from chronic diseases and of those who are in need of health care services. We predicted that this situation will further increase the challenges facing the health care systems of these countries with respect to the provision of services meeting the needs of its increasingly diverse clients. Therefore, we discussed 5 non-communicable chronic disease groups in our project.
Healthcare professionals should develop new health care services to better fulfill the needs of this population group. Simultaneously, the self-management capacities of elderly chronically ill people need to be strengthened. For this purpose, promoting and improving self-management competencies of chronically ill elderly people in Turkey is a primary objective. In terms of Turkish migrant communities in Germany and other countries, studies show that coping strategies of this population group are often suboptimal. For instance, this becomes evident with respect to motivation to therapy where minority groups, as compared to the majority population, have considerably low rates of adherence (Gosciniak 1997). Turkish migrants also report a variety of barriers to appropriate self-management (Yilmaz-Aslan et al. 2014). In order to improve health care for migrants, knowledge about how this population group utilizes health care services in the country of destination and in the country of origin as well as what expectations they have towards the health care they receive are necessary.
The main objective of this project is to examine how elderly people in Turkey and Turkish migrants in Europe are affected by chronic diseases, the impact these diseases have on their daily lives and how they cope with and manage these conditions. These are key information necessary to promote self-management competencies, a healthy lifestyle, adherence to therapeutic regimens (e.g., healthy eating, regular physical activity, abstinence from tobacco exposure) and rational drug use. The overarching aim of this project therefore is to provide the foundation for the development of information and training activities aiming to increase health-related quality of life among these groups. In addition, this project is designed to identify how circular migration and transnational ties influence the utilization of health services and adherence to treatment.
In other word, our project aimed to raise awareness of the elderly about the importance of regular health checks and polypharmacy and to develop healthy habits among older people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and osteoporosis.
Our project includes information and education activities aimed at raising awareness of the elderly about regular health checks and the importance of correct polypharmacy and promoting healthy living habits among older people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and osteoporosis. The materials developed for information, education and communication are based on qualitative and quantitative studies. These materials provided qualified learning opportunities for adults. IEC materials, Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden Based on the results of qualitative research was designed in collaboration with the audience and was prepared using the approach of seniors.
The second implementation of the project, Germany, elderly immigrants living in the Netherlands and Sweden was informed about the health system in Turkey.
The third implementation of the project was to develop the basic skills of pharmacists to educate the elderly about health lifestyle, self-management and multi-drug use.
Knowledge and skills were developed in “Education Modules for Improving Health Literacy Level among the Elderly” and “Effective Disease Management and Elderly Education Program Portal” project, pharmacists became able to communicate better with adults and present the right messages with the right method. Pharmacists were trained in line with the project goals and play an important role in providing the necessary information about their ownership means self-rule in Turkey has tried to be provided to the elderly.On the other hand, the pharmacist’s brochures were designed to improve communication skills with older Turkish immigrants in Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden in this output.
The quality of life of the elderly was improved with different interventions in the project by developing care services to provide holistic support to adults with chronic disease in the elderly.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 188475 Eur

Project Coordinator

ANKARA SOSYAL GUVENLIK IL MUDURLUGU & Country: TR

Project Partners

• MARTIN-LUTHER-UNIVERSITAET HALLE-WITTENBERG
• TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET CHEMNITZ
• UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
• HACETTEPE UNIVERSITESI
• Sagligin Gelistirilmesi Dernegi
• TURK ECZACILARI BIRLIGI
• Dunya Yaslilik Dernegi