ELDERABUSE
 Elder
abuse is often defined as "a single, or repeated act, or lack of
appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an
expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person".
This definition was established by Action on Elder Abuse
in the UK, but was then subsequently adopted by the World Health
Organisation and has, at its core, the concept that such abuse is
defined by the 'expectation of trust' of the older person toward their
abuser.
Consequently, it excludes more general criminal activity
such as 'muggings' in the street or 'distraction burglary', where one
stranger distracts an older person at their doorstep while another
enters the property to steal. This definition has been extended to
include dependent adult abuse, which applies when the victim is
physically or financially dependent on the abusive caregiver.
There are several types of abuse
of older people that are universally recognised as being elder abuse
and these include:
- Physical: e.g. hitting, punching, slapping,
burning, pushing, kicking, restraining, false
imprisonment/confinement, or giving too much medication or the wrong
medication
- Psychological: e.g. shouting, swearing,
frightening, blaming, ridiculing, constantly criticizing, ignoring or
humiliating a person. A common theme is a perpetrator who identifies
something that matters to an older person and then uses it to coerce
an older person into a particular action
- Financial: e.g. illegal or unauthorized use of a
person’s property, money, pension book or other valuables (including
changing the person's will to name the abuser as heir), often
fraudulently obtaining power of attorney, followed by deprivation of
money or other property, or by eviction from own home
- Sexual: e.g. forcing a person to take part in any
sexual activity without his or her consent, including forcing them to
participate in conversations of a sexual nature against their will
- Neglect: e.g. depriving a person of food, heat,
clothing or comfort or essential medication.
In addition some countries also recognise the following as elder abuse:
- Rights abuse: denying the civil and constitutional
rights of a person who is old, but not declared by court to be
mentally incapacitated. This is an aspect of elder abuse that is
increasingly being recognised and adopted by nations
- Self-neglect: elderly persons neglecting themselves
by not caring about their own health or safety.
Institutional abuse and racial abuse are not usually
included in such categories as they tend to denote the motivation or
circumstances, rather than the manifestation of abuse. That is not to
suggest that institutional practices, often marginalised as examples of
'poor practice', do not form a major aspect of elder abuse, or that
racially motivated abuse is not a signicant area of concern. |
