Abstract
As part of an effort to expand Turkish palliative care services, we reviewed and synthesized the original research of family caregiving for the elderly in Turkey. Our systematic review of the original research focused on Turkish elderly (>=65 years) family caregiving identified in PubMed, CINAHL, ProQuest, Ovid, and Turkish national databases, published in English or Turkish between January 2000 and April 2014. Thirteen studies were identified that included 1692 family caregivers. Identified research studies on Turkish elderly family caregiving had methodological limitations, including small, single-site samples. Studies focused mainly on describing caregivers' characteristics, caregiving activities, perceived burden and the impact of caregiving on caregivers' physical and psychosocial well-being, and quality of life. Shifts in Turkish caregiving have created new challenges as more women join the workforce. This cultural trend requires a similar shift in research priorities. In order to make further progress, it will be important for researchers to move beyond descriptive studies. Developing and testing culturally appropriate interventions to support elderly persons' family caregivers are a critical need.