Elderly and Patient Care Education; Social Support Program (SODES) Project of Turkish Republic Ministry of Development

The aim of the study is to evaluate the theoretical and practical training given to the unemployed women who are disadvantaged group for the health care of the elder people who are also disadvantaged group, within the scope of the project. Hundred participants registered in the Social Support Program (SODES) Project of Turkısh Republic Ministry of Development. Proje name is “My elderly and my patient are in safe hands with SODES” in cooperation with Social Assistance Foundation of Sahinbey Gaziantep Governorship's Office in 2013-2014. Surveys related to demographic features, elderly care applications and first aid were applied to participants before and after trainings. Wilcoxon, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis tests and Spearman Correlation Analysis were used. p<0,05 was accepted as statistical significance. The 100,0% of the elderly care providers were unemployed women, the mean age of participants was 33,29±10,66, 38,0% of them were graduated from primary school, and 8,0% of them had graduate degree. Besides, 57% of them were married, 60% of them had child/children, 44,0% of them had elderly relatives, and 19,0% of them had an eldercare experience. Mean knowledge scores after trainings (72,82±7,98) were higher compared to scores before trainings (35,30±17,08) (p<0,05). There was a positive significant relationship between the eldercare pre-test and post-test scores (r=0,790, p=0,001). Conclusively, it was detected that knowledge of all elderly care providers, who were included in the ‘“My elderly and my patient are in safe hands with SODES” project, increased in the end of elderly care and first aid trainings.