Migrants in elderly care-Elderly care for migrants

International Conference on Nursing & Emergency Medicine

December 02-04, 2013 Hampton Inn Tropicana, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Nevin Altintop

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Today many guest workers who migrated during the 1960s and 1970s from Mediterranean to central European countries entered the age of retirement. The formerly vital, strong and healthy often are in the need of care, suffer from chronic illness or struggle with the burden of age. In severe cases, younger family members are not able to cope with problems like dementia and bed riddenness in the care of their elderlies. This situation in general challenges programs and offers of elderly care: How to include migrants? special needs in elderly care and how to implement a culturally conscious care? It can be observed that elder migrants may have a certain reservation against nursing homes, often because of language barriers and divergent culturally shaped expectations expressed by meal preferences, a pronounced sense of shame, or religion. In my talk, I will thus focus on what kind of health care offers migrants typically accept. Furthermore, and more importantly, I will present distinct model examples of culturally specific and sensitive offers in elderly care in Germany and Switzerland for Turkish and Italian migrants, which can be regarded as development during the paradigm of the so-called ?intercultural opening of the elderly care?. Typical elements of language and cultural competency will be discussed. Finally, the given examples demonstrate how elderly care in central European countries prepares to encounter the demand of individual care? in a diverse society.

Biography :

Nevin Altintop has completed her studies in Nursing Science (Pflegewissenschaft) at the University of Vienna in 2010 where she holds a Magister title. She is one of the winners of the International Erwin Böhm Nursing Research Award (Pflegeforschungspreis) in Transcultural Health Care in 2012. Currently, she works on her Ph.D. at the Department of Social- and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna about elderly care for Turkish migrants in Austria and Germany. Since 2011, she is teaching in seminars and workshops and actively participating in conferences and congresses.