Age-Friendly Development Committee's Perspective on Age-Friendly Hospital: A Qualitative Study

The prolongation of the average life expectancy and the slowdown in the population growth rate have led to an increase in the elderly population. In order to understand the health needs of the increasing elderly population and to develop solutions to the problems they face, the issue of elderly-friendly hospitals has come to the fore. This study was carried out in order to understand the perspectives of the Age Friendly Hospital staff on the Age Friendly Hospital application. In line with the determined purpose, a focus group meeting was held with four employees of the Age-Friendly Development Committee of the Age-Friendly Hospital. In order for the research questions to be suitable for the purpose, a literature review was conducted before the questions were prepared. In order to preserve the validity of the information and to ensure the reliability of the research, the interviews conducted with the permission of the participants were recorded. The data obtained as a result of the interview were analyzed by descriptive analysis and content analysis methods. According to the data obtained, when the repetitive statements are examined, working in an Age Friendly Hospital is seen as an advantage by the committee members. Again, when the number of discourses is examined, the elderly-friendly development committee does not see the elderly as a workload. In addition, when the number of statements is examined, it is seen that the services with the most discourse are the elderly-friendly trainings carried out in order to create an elderly-friendly awareness in the hospital. An elderly-friendly culture has been created in the hospital with the age-friendly trainings received by the employees. In this way, Age-Friendly Hospital employees support age-friendly practices and approach these practices within the framework of professionalism.