Financial abuse: circumstances of occurrences against older adults

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the occurrences of financial abuse against older adults. Methods: a descriptive and retrospective cross-sectional study with a qualitative and quantitative approach was conducted through the analysis of 209 Police Reports (PR) of financial abuse against older adults, dated between October 2016 and March 2017. Data analysis was performed by content analysis in the thematic modality. Results: The profile of the victims was characterized as follows: male (50.72%), aged from 60 to 69 years old (56.6%) and living with a partner (48.33%). Financial abuse against older adults is mainly committed by strangers, in 85.6% of cases, and in 6.7% of cases by family members. The sociodemographic characteristics of most offenders were unknown. Three cores of meaning relating to the types of financial abuse were identified: appropriation and damage; exposure to fraud/extortion and theft/robbery. Conclusion: There is a need for actions aimed at preventing and protecting against the financial abuse of older adults, in order to avoid suffering and emotional, physical and social harm. In addition, further studies are needed to more effectively highlight the association of alterations during the aging process and financial violence.

Factors associated with the risk of violence against older adult women: a cross-sectional study

“…These findings seem contradictory since older adult women who have financial difficulties are 2.5 times more likely to suffer more severe abuse (32) . Nonetheless, considering that many older adults contribute significantly to the family income, this leads to older women with greater economic power to be at a greater risk of abuse, which can be perpetrated by the family members themselves through the appropriation of the money or property belonging to this older adult woman (33) . who reported the highest number of conditions, i.e., the greatest multimorbidity, were 2.69 times more likely to be at risk of abuse (CI=95%, 1.03-7.01).…”