The Social Support and Service Needs of Australia’s Ageing Greek Migrants: A Literature Review

Abstract

T

his paper presents the results of a literature review undertaken to shape an emerging social research program on the service and support needs of Australia’s ageing Greek migrants. In late 2009 a narrative review was conducted of pub - lished and “grey” literature to determine the scope of articles, with an emphasis on services and supports which help older people remain independent in the com - munity. The search returned an extensive amount of international literature on ageing populations, but only a very small number of publications on the service use and needs of Australia’s older Greek population. Barriers to service use included low proficiency in English, lack of Greek-speaking service providers, low awareness of services available, and various cultural issues. The review also iden tified a lack of research carried out in the Greek language by researchers with a Greek background, which suggests that the views of older Greek migrants may be missing from much social research. We conclude that a sustained and cul - turally appropriate research effort conducted in the first language is needed and is essen tial if community-based services are to become more appropriate and acces sible for the older members of Australia’s Greek communities.