Comparative evaluation of home care services for the elderly in Kadıköy and Esenler Municipalities

As a result of the changes in the world, the increase in the proportion of the elderly population and the change in social structures have made the care of the elderly an important issue. Today, care has become not only an issue that families take responsibility for, but also an area where states are involved with various policies and practices. In the presentation of policies and practices in this field, municipalities constitute important units. It is thought that the ideology of the municipality administration, the socio-cultural and socio-economic status of the district residents will create differences in the types of services provided, as well as in perceptions about service delivery. Within the scope of this study, the perceptions, and attitudes of the care services for the elderly and the caregivers in the municipalities of Kadıköy and Esenler, which have different political ideologies, were compared. First, the strategic plans and activity reports were made content analysis of the two municipalities, then in-depth interviews were conducted with the caregivers. The interviews were analysed using the MAXQDA qualitative data analysis program. As a result of the study, although there are no qualitative differences in home care services for the elderly between the two municipalities, there have been differences in perceptions and attitudes towards the provision of services. It has been determined that these differences are since municipalities are governed by parties with different ideologies, being a member of an international network on aging, and the district's sociodemographic and sociocultural structure.