Elder abuse most often occurs in the home where the elderly person lives. It can also occur in institutional settings, especially in long-term care facilities. It is estimated that more than 1 in 10 older adults suffer some form of abuse. The most common form of elder abuse is neglect.
This means lowering the basic needs of a person's life, such as food, medication and hygiene. Most elder abuse is committed by people you trust, such as family members. Abuse can occur in many places, including in the elderly person's home, a family member's home, an assisted living facility, or a nursing home. Elder abuse can be from family members, strangers, health care providers, caregivers, or friends.
Nursing homes rank first on the list because they are common for abuse of all kinds. Nursing homes are often understaffed or workers do not receive adequate training. As a result, residents experience neglect, malnutrition, physical abuse, and more. Caregivers in these centers can be held accountable, but also, the nursing home is responsible if they don't train or react.
Globally, very little is known about elder abuse and how to prevent it, particularly in developing countries. In fact, many of the signs and symptoms of elder abuse overlap with symptoms of mental deterioration, but that doesn't mean you should rule them out if the caregiver says so. Elder abuse includes physical, emotional, or sexual harm inflicted on an older adult, financial exploitation, or neglect of their well-being by people who are directly responsible for their care. However, a review of recent studies on elder abuse in institutional settings (indicates that 64.2% of staff reported having perpetrated some form of abuse in the past year.
Elder abuse is an intentional act or lack of action that causes or creates a risk of harm to an older adult. Frequent arguments or tensions between the caregiver and the elderly person, or changes in the elder's personality or behavior can be broad signs of elder abuse. Both the demands of care and the needs of the elder can create situations in which abuse is more likely to occur. According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, 60% of self-reported elder abuse is verbal, 14% is negligence, and 5-10% is physical.
Globally, the number of cases of elder abuse is projected to increase, as many countries have rapidly aging populations. Alone, more than half a million complaints of elder abuse reach authorities each year, and millions more cases go unreported. Community and social factors related to elder abuse may include age discrimination against older persons and certain cultural norms (for example, signs of elder abuse may be difficult to recognize or confuse with symptoms of dementia, or frailty of the elderly or caregivers can explain them that way. Such contact may involve physical sexual acts, but activities such as showing an older person pornographic material, forcing the person to watch sexual acts, or forcing the person to undress are also considered sexual abuse of older persons.
Individual-level characteristics that increase the risk of becoming an abuser include mental illness, substance abuse, and often financial dependence on the victim's abuser. But elder abuse can lead to premature death, damage physical and psychological health, destroy social and family ties, cause devastating financial losses, and more. .
