The Awareness of the Physical Abuse of the Elderly in Living Facilities - Research Proposal Example

ABUSE The current proposed report investigates the issue of elder abuse in society, and specifically in residential facilities. Elder abuse is a serious issue, and the proposed report will attempt to present constructive solutions to the problems which elder abuse and neglect bring up. Although there are many different kinds of abuse, the planned report will concentrate primarily on physical abuse. Not only residential facility workers, but also individuals’ own families, will be profiled in terms of likely warning signs of abuse, about which residential care facility staff can be effectively educated, so that this will not be as much of a challenge in the future. The proposed report posits using quantitative survey research in a fixed design, which will bring new dimensions to the general discussion of preventing elder abuse. Significance The awareness of the physical abuse of the elderly in living facilities is an important issue today, and is the subject of the proposed report. Abuse and neglect are too often visited upon older individuals who have lost some degree of their independence, and many areas do not have the programs necessary to effectively counter this threat. There is even abuse and neglect that goes on with healthcare facilities, and this is perhaps the most insidious sort of abuse. In some cultures, the elderly are prized and honored above all other citizens and groups, but unfortunately this is not the case in the present culture. Older individuals are more likely to be seen as being in the way of the young than as role models who should be exalted because of their aged wisdom. Presently, however, many individuals are treated harshly by healthcare facilities and even their own kin, making elder abuse a significant problem in society. Also, in terms of economic scales, older individuals who are of a lower socio-economic class are more likely to be abused or mistreated. These people may lack a stable caregiver. The proposed report will look into all aspects of abuse, including verbal, sexual, emotional, and financial abuse of the elderly; however, physical abuse is the main consideration that the proposed report will focus upon. “Physical abuse is generally considered the most extreme form of elder maltreatment. Such physical abuse includes slapping, blunt force trauma, bites, pinching, traumatic alopecia, burns and scalds, force feeding, overmedication, undermedication, and improper medication, and improper use of physical restraints. Physical abuse accounts for up to 14% of all elder trauma and results in death more frequently than in younger patients” (Collins, 2006). That is the bottom line of this situation. It is important to pursue these research objectives, because these elderly Americans are resources that are not to be neglected or abused. All too often elders are not seen as as a talented, experienced, and wise wellspring who could help their community and their country; all too often, elders are seen as a pain in the neck who needs to be put to sleep so that they won’t annoy the young. The main social problem represented by the proposed report can therefore also be seen to be the lack of respect that is often prevalent in this society towards the elderly, and the lack of dignity and independence that comes along with this too-common treatment of abuse, neglect and disrespect. “The victim is usually socially isolated and lives in close proximity to or with the perpetrator. The elder victim usually has a personal relationship with the perpetrator (eg, relative, neighbor, nurse/sitter/caregiver, family friend). Often the victim is dependent on the perpetrator. Inherent factors in the elder that appear to put him or her at risk include cognitive impairment, dementia, physical impairment, functional debility” (Collins, 2006) Goals and objectives The major objective is to change people’s perception of the elderly and lessen incidence of elder abuse. Older individuals are more likely to be seen as being in the way of the young than as role models who should be exalted because of their aged wisdom. Presently, however, many individuals are treated harshly by healthcare facilities and even, as the proposed report will show, their own kin, making elder abuse a significant problem in society. “Elder maltreatment is not a new entity but is one that is recently recognized as a widespread and growing social problem. Unfortunately, few physicians are trained to recognize the different forms of elder maltreatment including physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. The elder, age 65 years or older, is also a unique individual with respect to pathophysiology. The natural changes of aging must be considered when assessing any physical or laboratory findings” (Welsh and Morgenlander, 1999). The proposed report will look at the presenting ethical problem, and then take discussion in support of, and against, authors’ own ethical actions in relation to this problem, before concluding. In terms of profile, it is important to remember that, “The typical perpetrator, or abuser, is a relative who lives with or near the elder.25,31 Three characteristics of the perpetrator are known risk factors: a history of mental illness and/or substance abuse, excessive dependence on the elder for financial support, and a history of violence within or outside of the family” (Improper, 2007). As noted above, another goal of the proposed report is to focus on physical abuse, while still paying attention to other forms of abuse and neglect. “Physical abuse is an act carried out with the intention of causing physical pain or injury.18 37 Elders can certainly be the victims of accidental, noninflicted trauma. Such trauma includes abrasions and contusions over bony prominences and long bone and vertebral fractures. Worrisome traumatic injuries include those to areas not commonly impacted during daily activities or even secondary to accidental trauma” (Colero, 2003). Sometimes the elderly are also purposefully over-medicated in residential treatment centers, and this is another aspect that the proposed report will cover, because this over-medicalization fits under the category of physical abuse. In cases like these, the elder has lost control over their own ability to medicate. Methods Different perspectives on the issue of appropriate methodologies for experimental proposed research projects abound in extant literature, in terms of exploratory, descriptive, and analytical studies. “Exploratory studies are most typically done… to satisfy the researcher’s curiosity and desire for better understanding, to test the feasibility of undertaking a more careful study, and to develop the methods to be employed” (Babbie, 1995, p. 84). In the case of the proposed research experiment, this phase seeks to find common themes and areas of possibility for further study. The descriptive phase will follow, in which the demographic and statistical information on the target population and target program emulations will be determined in respective forms of their completeness and efficiency as representative statistics and program models. In the explanatory phase which follows this in turn, the actual research of the experiment itself will employ salient variables and determine relationships answering the overall questions of why and how to improve education about elder abuse in residential facilities. This phase also includes the provision of non-spurious interrelationships that will be shown by the proposed experiment, and these relationships are examined in terms of how they apply to future studies on the subject of elder abuse in residential treatment facilities and nursing homes. The plan for obtaining results is to use a subject survey based on a questionnaire. This questionnaire will emphasize anonymity to cull subject group support and honest answers. The independent variables of self-report on learning processes will be highlighted in the design of the questionnaire. Bias will be minimized by the absence of leading questions in the survey itself and the abovementioned anonymity attached to subjects’ responses. Extraneous variables which come up in terms of assessing and generalizing subject group data will not be factored out of the experiment through overly rigid design principles; rather, new questions which may come up during the research will be explored as they arise. Resources Extant literature has significant resources to address the problem of elder abuse generally, and elder abuse specifically in residential facilities. Primary and secondary information can help to clear up misunderstandings and stereotypes. For example, one may assume that elders are most often abused by residential facility staff members. Reading Atchley’s statements on the issue, one would think that the reverse would be true. The author states that Pillemer “found… that abusers were very likely to be dependent on the older person for housing and financial assistance. Indeed, only one- third of the abusers were financially independent of the abused elder” (Atchley, p. 399). It is not the intention of this report to question or bring naïve criticism to secondary work, but at certain times, the proposed report also will have to separate reliable information from unreliable information. Especially in this age of the internet, it is doubly important to check the reliability and validity of sources. The proposed research will not use .com commercial websites, will take abundant use of database journals, and will also use significant print material. Results Many results can be expected from the proposed report, including a look into the residential facility without intervention, making governmental safeguards against abuse and mistreatment of elders, and other issues. In effective practice, the professional’s input should consist of reactive mechanisms that seek to put an end to the abuse of elders and the neglect of elders by giving help to the facility structure, which may be the perpetrator of the abuse, to help themselves without seeming too intrusive or abrasive to the sensitive organizational structure of the facility, thus potentially compromising the ability to help the organization function and decrease entropy in the situation from the professional research perspective as someone who has to deal with issues of neglect and elder abuse on a regular basis. If a caregiver and an elderly individual do not get along or have conflicts, the worker can see something and say something about it. They can also report to authorities and also communicate with family members, providing support not just to the elderly individual, but also to the whole family system they are a part of. Facility workers can also help to ease tensions that may occur when family members need to provide for the healthcare of a relative in their later life stages, an also advocate for independence and decision making. They can also look out for signs of elder abuse. “The Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 stated, among other things, that: The resident has the right to be free from any physical or chemical restraints imposed for purposes of discipline or convenience, and not required to treat the residents medical symptoms” (Perception, 2003). This can be extended to the home as well. One can tell a lot about a society by how it treats its elderly citizens, and unfortunately, many elderly Americans, especially those who live in low-income environments like many inner city areas, and who may have physical or mental impairments, are treated harshly, exploited, and in some cases even abused. By far the most pressing problem, though, is that of abuse. It is unfortunate that those elderly Americans who do not have a stable caregiver and who may not be able to afford proper care are often those who suffer the most profoundly. REFERENCE Atchley, Robert C. (2004). Social Forces and Aging: An Introduction to Social Gerontology. Stamford, CT: Wadsworth Thomson Learning. Atchley’s text is a general reference book on gerontology. It covers many issues related to the elderly, including an extensive section on elder abuse. The findings of this author are somewhat surprising in relation to residential care facilities, because they find that it is not the staff who are most likely to abuse elders. This book is a literate and articulate work of general scholarship. Babbie, Earl (1995). The Practice of Social Research. New York: Wadsworth- Thompson Publishing Like Atchley, Babbie provides a general reference text. Here, however, the issue at hand is not gerontology, but research methodology. In this reference, the author lays down the foundations of many different kind of flexible and fixed research approaches. This book is valuable to the planned investigation because it offers instructions on doing survey research. Colero, Larry (2003). A Framework for Universal Principles of Ethics. Crossroads. http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/papers/invited/colero.html. Colero’s text looks at some general ethics questions which can be found in the healthcare environment. Elder abuse involves many ethical issues, perhaps the main one being reporting. Residential care staffers have to be ethically trained to spot and report elder abuse when they see it. It is their ethical decision making which can make a real difference with this issue. Collins, K. (2006). Elder maltreatment. Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. This is a general information article about elder abuse, which also contains charts and statistics. At the conclusion of the article, the author presents a brief and summative section that is designed to show the reader their own personal data and conclusions about which concept is most effective in dealing with elder mistreatment in organizations and what the limitations are. Kearl, M. (2000). The Double Standard of Aging. Time and Social Inequality. from http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/time-7.html. Slegenthaler, Kim L. (1999). Sweating with the Oldies: Physical Activity and Successful Aging. P&R, pp. 26-35. This author follows some more positive aspects of gerontology, and although they do not focus specifically on elder abuse, they provide beneficial information about how residential facilities should treat their clients. I found this section of the article particularly informative. It was interesting to me as well that the author was able to make connections between the real world and some of the issues in the supporting texts regarding how the elders should be treated. Welsh, K.A. and J.C. Morgenlander (1999). Determining the cause of memory loss in the elderly. Postgraduate Medicine Online. Many of those who abuse elders think that they can take advantage of natural memory loss which occurs as a result of biological aging. The interstices between these two variables are covered in this informative article. The authors present a literate and articulate analysis. Perception, Attention, Learning, and Memory (2003). NIMH. As noted above, it is important to view other variables which may impact elder abuse, such as memory loss, reporting, and other issues. This article is articulate and literate, and answers all aspects of the reader’s questions in easy to read terms while paraphrasing main ideas of other authors often in the text. Improper use of physical and chemcial restraints (2007). http://www.virginia-elder-abuse-law.com/practice_areas/restraints-in-nursing.cfm This resource has to do with a specific type of elder abuse: improper restraints. Rather than focusing on possible abuse coming from family members, this type of abuse is almost always perpetrated by staffers at residential facilities. They may strap elders to their beds, or over-medicate them to keep them quiet and submissive. This must be recognized as physical abuse. Research: Experimental methods (2007). http://psy1.clarion.edu/mm/General/Methods/Methods.html Like Babbie’s text above, this resource explains some background about research methods. It is useful to the proposed investigation because it has general reference information on different types of research methodologies. Since the proposed report will use a survey method, this is valuable. Elder abuse (2010). Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. This is a general reference resource on elder abuse. The links to the proposed research are explicit. Background and statistics can be gathered from this reference, and while it is not overly specific, it does give an adequate overview of the problem in a way that is easy for the reader to understand. Read More