Thematic Panel 17
Social and Health Care Policies for Elderly Migrants in Europe
Conveners:
Murat Şentürk, Associate Professor, and Yusuf Adıgüzel, Professor, Istanbul University Department of Sociology, Turkey
Discussants:
Ulaş Sunata, Associate Professor, Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, Turkey & Yvonne Schikhof, M.A., Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, School of Health care Studies & Research Centre Innovations in Care, Netherlands
The population of elderly migrants in Europe has been increasing and is an important applied research area. This social fact is a dynamic subject at the intersection of aging and immigration sociology. This research area also has the capacity to generate more comprehensive and stronger scientific data through international comparisons. The fact that this particular elderly group is a heterogeneous group in cultural and economic perspectives is well known. This heterogeneity puts an additional challenge on evaluating elderly migrants’ care needs over a more efficient base. The understanding of formal and informal care can be reshaped by migrants’ cultural backgrounds in addition to how caregiver is defined. The conceptualization of care also highly depends on migrants’ life choices. The circumstances of practical, realistic, and functional institutional care for migrants are another prominent study area. All in all, crisis-proof social policies must be included in European countries’ agendas. More information is needed in order to understand the local- and country-level needs. This session invites papers that focus on both the social- and health-care needs of elderly migrants; of particular interest are papers that examine the various angles of care. Transnational care practices are considered to be a significant and unique study area. Lastly, migration policies and the status of migrants in various countries also affect the healthcare procedures of elderly migrants.
Keywords: Elderly migrants, Social care, Health care, Transnational care practices, Institutional care, Formal care, Informal care, Social rights.