THE PREVALENCE OF ELDER ABUSE

The prevalence of elder abuse

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Discussion of legal/policy context of the problem4

Significance of the topic and research for social work practice6

Structure of the Report7

Literature Review8

The prevalence of elder abuse9

Care homes10

NHS care11

Methods12

Search strategy14

Inclusion and exclusion criteria15

Data extraction15

Discussion of Methods16

Results17

General older population surveys17

General population studies using validated and reliable instruments18

Studies using reliable instruments18

Studies using instruments without reported psychometric properties19

Summary of best evidence:20

Asking dependent older people about abuse20

Discussion21

Conclusions25

References27

Abstract

Abuse of older people is a hidden, and often ignored, problem in society. The profile of child abuse has been dramatically raised in the past few years and the Government has acted to introduce controls and measures to identify and tackle that problem; but abuse of older people remains in the background. It has been put to us that 500,000 older people in England are being abused at any one time, yet many people are unaware of the problem and few measures have been taken to address it. Moreover, we are disappointed that the Department has not commissioned research to establish a more precise figure. Abuse occurs in institutional settings, but more often in the home. It can be perpetrated by care staff, relatives, friends and strangers, and can take many forms - sexual abuse, financial abuse, abuse of medication in controlling and sedating patients, physical abuse, neglect and behaviour designed to degrade and humiliate.

Much abuse is not reported because many older people are unable, frightened or embarrassed to report its presence. Often care staff take no action because they lack training in identifying abuse or are ignorant of the reporting procedures. The lack of reporting results in difficulties in determining the true scale of the problem and this is compounded by a dearth of research. Further, varying definitions of 'elder abuse' exist within the health and social care sectors. To enable the extent of the problem to be accurately determined and for uniformity we recommend that an agreed, consistent and comprehensive definition should be applied by all government departments, statutory agencies, independent bodies, charities and organisations.

The prevalence of elder abuse

Introduction

Abuse of older people is a hidden, and often ignored, problem in society. The profile of child abuse has been dramatically raised in the past few years and the Government has acted to introduce controls and measures to identify and tackle that problem; but abuse of older people remains in the background. It has been put to us that 500,000 older people in England are being abused at any one time, yet many people are unaware of the problem and few measures have been taken to address it. Moreover, we are disappointed that the Department has not commissioned research to establish a more precise figure. Abuse occurs in institutional settings, but more often in the home. It can be perpetrated by care staff, relatives, friends and strangers, and can take many forms - sexual abuse, financial abuse, abuse of medication in controlling and sedating patients, physical abuse, neglect and behaviour designed to degrade and ...