2Ege Üniversitesi, Hemşirelik Fakültesi İZMİR Introduction: This research aimed to examine the perception of support from family and friends in immigrant elders from Bulgaria and the size of their social network. Support from family and friends scores of immigrant elders from Bulgaria were compared with the size of their social network and their sociodemographic characteristics.
Materials and Method: The descriptive study was conducted between October and December 2008. The study sample consisted of 300 volunteer elders among 332 elders over 65 years of age, living in ‹zmir, Görece, a district where many Turkish citizens who came from Bulgaria after 1989 have settled. Socio-demographic Form, Perceived Family Support Scale, Perceived Friends Support Scale and Social Network List were used for data collection.
Results: The mean age of immigrant elders was 73.0±5.94. The mean family support score was 28.38±8.91, while the mean friends support score was 18.41±11.33. The size of the social network was 13±4.48 people. There was a positive and significant relation between the size of the social network of elders and the mean perceived family and friend scores (p<0.05).
Conclusion: According to these findings, we suggest reinforcing the social support structures and developing new service models for a better and happier life in order to enable social integration of the immigrant elders to the family and the society.
Keywords : Social Support; Emigrants and Immigrants; Aged