2Hacettepe University Faculty of Economics, ANKARA Introduction: A total of 175 elderly individual residing in Ovac›k within the province of Kırıkkale participated in this study, which aimed to determine the changing needs of the elderly by means of the Thunder Bay Index and assess their daily living activities using the Thunder Bay Index.
Materials and Method: In the study, the Thunder Bay Index and the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living served as data collection tools. Methods used for the analysis of the data were percentage, standard deviation, arithmetic mean, T test, and variance analysis.
Results: When the Thunder Bay Index statistics are evaluated individually, the most positive answer was given to the item: “I can accept my past” ( =3.81). The most negative answer was given for the following item: “I can procure some money from state funds when I need to” ( =2.58). When the group averages are considered, elderly individuals who have a lower level of education, have less income, have four or more children, do not own their house, gave more negative opinions regarding their needs. The results demonstrate that elderly individuals who could independently take a bath, change clothes, sit, stand, use the toilet, walk, and shop gave more positive opinions than those who were partially or completely dependent.
Conclusion: It is not possible to prevent aging; however, it is possible to offer elderly individual minimum dependence and a better quality of life by satisfying their needs.
Keywords : Elderly; Daily Living Activities; Thunder Bay Index