English Perceptions of Elder Abuse

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate an English sample's perceptions on elder abuse, inflicted by adult children against their aging parents. Fifty participants (14 males, 46 females) provided examples of extreme, moderate, and mild elder abuse. As examples of extreme abuse, most participants mentioned neglect and physical aggression. Various forms of neglect and psychological abuse were their most common examples of moderate and mild abuse. References to physical aggression appeared most often as examples of extreme abuse rather than of moderate or mild abuse. Within these main categories, the specific subtypes most frequently mentioned by the sample included physical neglect, psychological neglect, verbal abuse, and deprivation. More females than males provided examples of financial abuse and physical neglect. Females were also more likely than males to list psychological neglect as an extreme form of abuse and disrespect as a form of mild abuse. At the moderate level, males referred to abuse relating to power more often than females. A positive relationship was found between age and the number of examples of physical neglect given at the moderate level and the number of examples of emotional abuse given at the mild level.

Older People’s Perceptions of the Term Elder Abuse and Characteristics Associated With a Lower Level of Awareness

“…Typologies of abuse and perceptions of severity or prevalence are most frequently described (Daskalopoulos, Mulin, Donovan, & Suzuki, 2006;Erlingsson, Saveman, & Berg, 2005;Hussein, Manthorpe, & Penhale, 2007;Lafferty, 2009). Hudson et al (1999) reported that over 90% of respondents aged between 45 and 93 years had heard the term elder abuse; this is similar to the level of awareness found in the present study.…”

The relationship between older people's awareness of the term elder abuse and actual experiences of elder abuse

“…In the field of elder abuse, studies tend to use the concept of awareness and perception interchangeably. Such studies have mainly reported whether people have heard the term elder abuse and the personal meaning people attached to it (Hudson et al, 2000;Daskalopoulos et al, 2006;Lafferty et al, 2009). Although awareness of elder abuse, at least at this simple level, is likely to have increased, it still remains an ill-defined concept within society and for older people in particular.…”

Prevalence of Elder Abuse and Neglect: Findings from First Macedonian Study

“…Another Israeli study showed that 25% of elderly people were subject to neglect, which means deprivation of basic needs in various domains [21]. In the United Kingdom, the findings of a household prevalence study [22][23][24] for people over 65 years (in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) showed that 2.6% of the sample had been victims of abuse. In 2000, a telephone survey in a randomly selected, community-based population in urban and rural South Australia identified that 2.7% of the older population (65 years and over) had been victims of abuse [25].…”

“…In the United Kingdom household prevalence study of people aged 65 years and over, in total 2.6% reported abuse, 1.1% experienced neglect, 0.7% financial abuse, 0.4% psychological abuse, 0.4% physical abuse and 0.2% sexual abuse [22][23][24]. The prevalence of abuse was higher among women (3.8%) than among men (1.1%), as is the case in our study (19.4% among women and 12.6% among men), but the different types of abuse and neglect are much higher in our study.…”