TARGETS OF THE THIRD SYMPOSIUM

To hold a symposium in Turkey was an initiative to draw public attention in the fact that Turkey is getting old rapidly. Another aim was to elude from the negative effects of not to feel the pressure of the aging phenomenon.  In addition, to define the problems of aging and suggest solutions were the significant objectives.

As a aging society, Turkey urgently needs qualified staff for gerontological researches and practices, needs social affairs network for executing the theoretic and applied knowledge. In future, the need will increase much more. International Symposium on Social and Applied Gerontology in Turkey will be able to support the initiatives of the young and dynamic Turkish society on becoming a united whole with aging.

 Thus, the aims of the symposium can be divided into three: society, policy and science.

Figure 1.  Aims of the symposium

 The symposium is open fort he native and foreign scholars, policy makers, businessmen, and individuals interested in aging subject. Like that, it is much more possible to discuss aging in Turkey.

 For the first time a symposium on gerontology, The 1st International Symposium on Social and Applied Gerontology, was held in Turkey in May, 10-12, 2005. The 1st symposium led the way to a new view of aging in Turkey. Sociological, psychological, cultural, medical aspects of aging were discussed in the 2005 symposium. Significant messages were delivered to the Turkish public opinion, policy makers, and Turkish science men on gerontology. The symposiums held in 2005 and 2006 have contributed great to create a gerontology literature in turkey by publishing the proceedings of the symposiums.

The 2nd International Symposium on Social and Applied Gerontology was held in Turkey in April, 26-28, 2006. It is, of course, impossible to cover all fields related to gerontology in one symposium. At this time the focus in the second symposium was the social and practicable aspects of social aging phenomenon. A lot of research and practice fields ranging from social policies and social work to professional care services and from training qualified personnel to quality of life in old age are included in these perspectives.

In the first symposium the fact that Turkey is getting old rapidly was depicted. In the second symposium, this fact was strengthened. The recognition of such a problem is so important to open discussion on aging phenomenon. Therefore, solution making initiatives were encouraged by drawing attentions into the social problems of aging.

In the second symposium very important and urgent messages were delivered to the young, investors, and politicians because attentions were drawn especially to practice. Hence, it was pointed out that social aging can be among phenomena which can trigger a series of initiatives by the coverage of education, vocational education, and employment with special emphasis.

The targets of the second symposium held with the participation of experts, directors, and 21 native and 25 foreign scholars over the world were declared as below:

  1. To stress the importance of focusing on demographic aging from a positive perspective.
  2. To serve quality social caring services for the elderly. To overcome the barriers in front of the quality lifespan.
  3. To draw attentions into that old people have power to help their families, society, and country in spite of having specific problems.
  4. The ageing issue -that has become a global issue- will be among the most important problems encountered by countries like Turkey that have young populations, in the not-so-far future. This is because younger societies age a-few-times more rapidly than elder societies. Therefore, we have aimed to benefit from sharing the experiences and practices.

 In Turkey, some of the problems needing urgent solutions are as below:

  1. To design adequate and cheap sources for comprehensive care services at home.
  2. To design boarding care services for frail elders. To plan specific life space and opportunities.
  3. Contend with elderly abuse.
  4. Contend with negative cliché beliefs.

 Suggestions for the problems above;

  1. Prevention of disability and public health affairs
  2. Support for self-caring, to increase self-assurance
  3. To make elders participate in collective activities, and make them reflect their problems
  4. To make government, civil organizations, scholars, and service suppliers work in together in each step of decision making process

The covered time encouraged us to hold “The Third International Symposium on Social and Applied Gerontology in Turkey” in April 16-18, 2008. We are sure that such symposiums have certain positive messages for the whole science community. Especially, Social sciences, anthropology, and cultural sciences need support and encouragement. So, Gerontology symposiums held in Turkey have an encouraging effect. In our country gerontology has not been a common discipline in the universities yet. The symposiums held will be able to activate initiatives through wide spreading. We believe that the third symposium will lead to young academicians and will convey important messages about new research and study areas. When we also think international participation, the symposium will lead to share information, interaction, and cooperation.

 

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