Beliz Yegencik’s passion for healthy ageing and mental health has taken her across the world. From Turkiye where she was born and raised, to the United Kingdom, and now to Australia, where she is undertaking a PhD focused on loneliness among older adults receiving care at home.
With a background in psychology, Beliz completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the field, including postgraduate study in the UK. Following her studies, she worked in dementia research and clinical practice, supporting older adults across a range of projects and research initiatives.
While her work initially centred on dementia, Beliz said it was her broader experiences working alongside older people that shaped her future direction.
“I really enjoyed working with older adults – learning from them, engaging with them, and the idea of contributing to healthy ageing really inspired me,” she said.
“That’s when I realised focusing on mental health and healthy ageing was the area I wanted to pursue further.”
That path ultimately led Beliz to Australia, where she discovered a PhD opportunity through Silverchain in partnership with Federation University Australia (FedUni).
Now based in Melbourne, Beliz’s research focuses on loneliness among older adults receiving care at home, an issue increasingly recognised as a major public health concern.
Research has shown loneliness among older adults can contribute to increased frailty, hospitalisation, depression and poorer overall health outcomes. While significant attention has been given to loneliness in residential aged care and among community-dwelling older adults, Beliz said less is understood about people receiving care at home, who often have more complex health needs and fewer opportunities for social connection.
“People accessing home-based aged care may rely on multiple services and can face barriers engaging with community-based resources,” she said.
“It’s really important that we understand and respond to the unique characteristics and needs of this group.”
The PhD is part of a partnership between FedUni and Silverchain designed to combine academic research with practical innovation in aged care, thanks to funding from the Silverchain Foundation.
Embedded within Silverchain, Beliz’s work contributes to a broader effort to explore evidence-based approaches that could help reduce loneliness and improve mental wellbeing for older Australians receiving care at home.
While still in the research phase, Beliz hopes her work will ultimately help inform the development of tailored, personalised programs that can better support older people receiving care at home who experience loneliness.
For Beliz, the opportunity to contribute to meaningful change in the lives of older adults is what continues to drive her research.
“Doing the PhD, coming here (to Melbourne) and working with Silverchain has been the best change and the best decision I’ve made,” she said.
