ASSESSMENT OF MEDICAL HOME CARE NEEDS IN TURKISH POPULATION

Objective: To determine the home healthcare needs of the elderly so as to develop proper home Healthcare Services. Methodology: This descriptive study was carried out in a county of Kocaeli province-Turkey. Data was collected through a specially designed questionnaire through face to face interview technique. The data were analyzed by the computer using the SPSS package program. Chi-square test was used for the statistical analysis. Results: This study showed that 14.6% of the population had at least one diagnosed disease. Among them, 1.8% was disabled, 4.1% was elderly and 1.1% of the households were in need of home care services. Conclusions: Home care needs were found to be low in this study. Its main cause was that elderly population was not aware of the availability of such a service in the country.