The Prevalence of Elderly Abuse - Essay Example

Elder Abuse Elder Abuse In the present day world, there has been a rise in the number of the elderly persons ed to various forms of mistreatment. It is arguable that mistreatment of the elderly individuals relates to the reliance of these persons on others such as acquaintances and family. Despite little research being conducted on the risks linked with elder abuse, McDonald et al (1991) are wary of the fact that appropriate interventions may mot be taken as the assessment of elder abuse has been neglected. This leads to their exploitation, injuries, and even subjection to mistreatment. According to the WHO (2002), elder abuse refers to single or recurring acts that cause harm to the elderly persons. The organisation also indicates that the actions termed as abuse may be inappropriate, as the elderly have trust in the persons who mistreat them (World Health Organisation, 2002). If persons undergo emotional, physical, financial, sexual or psychological torture, then they may be referred to as abused persons. In the United Kingdom (UK), the aging population starts from the age of 65. At this juncture an individual is referred to as elderly (AEA, 2002). In the research conducted by OKeeffe et al. (2007), 2.6% of persons over the age of 66 reported to have undergone mistreatment from relatives, workers and friends. Worse still, these abused persons claimed to have trusted the persons who actually abused them. This explains why this case is referred to as abuse, as abuse is not expected from a friend or relative. A closer analysis of this figure relates to about 227,000 persons of over 65 years abused (OKeeffe et al., 2007). It is this fact that leads to Anetzberger’s (2012) argument that elderly abuse is indeed a theme of interest, as the problem was actually discovered centuries ago, and is still increasing by the day. The prevalence of the elderly abuse is, without a doubt, alarming. OKeeffe et al. (2007) indicate that with an inclusion of neighbours and colleagues as abusers, the figure of neglected aged rises to 4%. In this percentage, 1.1% represents the aged who are neglected, 0.7% represents the financially abused, 0.4% psychological abuse, 0.3% sexual abuse and 0.4% psychological abuse (OKeeffe et al., 2007). From the statistics, women tend to suffer more from abuse and neglect as opposed to men. The study conducted by AEA (2002) explains that abused women stand at 71%, while men take the smaller percentage of 29%. The males have also been indicated to be the ones who mostly abuse in the family context, taking up 54.6% (AEA, 2002). On the same note, relatives mostly abuse their elderly, standing at 47%. Workers are next, taking up 29%, followed by friends and neighbours at 12%, care givers, 2% and others 10% (AEA, 2002). Gray-Vickrey’s (2004) study highlights that neglect as a form of abuse takes up 70% and involves failure to provide food, shelter, medication and clothing to the elderly. Emotional abuse at 35%, on the other hand, involves anguish experience by the victim; financial abuse accounts for 30% and involves misuse of property and resources by the abuser; and physical abuse takes 25% and entails inflicting pain on the victim, either sexually or by slapping or pinching (Gray-Vickrey, 2004). With these statistics in mind, it would be atrocious not to highlight the need to focus on measures to curb this problem. It is essential to assess the aspects that cause elderly abuse. This can be explained using the stress and feminist theories. It is evident that lots of individuals solve conflicts in different ways. As seen in AEA’s (2002) report, families may apply violence as a mechanism of dealing with conflicts. Among the individuals who suffer the consequences of this violence involves the aged. AEA (2002) terms this as the stress theory of dealing with conflicts. In the event that the caregiver dedicates all their time to taking care of the aged, chances are that they will feel overburdened with responsibilities, as the aged are solely dependent on them. In the long run, they tend to use violence as a response mechanism. In the event that the caregiver feels that their privacy is denied due to the presence of the elderly, they may end up getting worked up and stressed. The stress is also high when the caregiver is unemployed, lives in miserable conditions or is unable to provide for their needs. In such a case, the chances of abuse on the elderly are high as the caregivers tend to release their stress on them due to an assumption that they are the causes of their terrible lifestyle. The stress theory relates to the ABCX model proposed by Lee (2009), who argues that the caregivers normally get impulsive feelings that force them to abuse the elderly. In relation to society, elderly abuse may be explained using the existing cultural beliefs and norms that validate violence on the elderly. As seen in the work of Bennet, Kingston and Penhale (1997), the aged are regarded as burdens; thus, they need to be eliminated. This explains why the caregivers feel no pain while mistreating the aged as the society condones the vice. From the feminist theory, care giving has mostly been a chore of the women (AEA, 2002). Feminists therefore argue that the women need to be freed from this chore that simply confines to the homes as mere caregivers. It is the extent of abuse that explains why Lachs and Pillemer (2004) view abuse from a clinical perspective. Borrowing from AEA’s (2002) statistics on relatives who abuse, the stress theory and cultural explanations are relevant as the sons/daughters take the hugest percentage (53%) of the abuse rate, and the spouses account for 22%, yet they are expected to be the major caregivers to the elderly. This explains that violence begins from the home level and then transits to the society at large. Conclusively, elderly abuse involves repeated acts on the aged persons that harm them either physically, emotionally, financially or psychologically. The abuse has been explained in regard to the cultural norms, and the stress theory that explain the society regards the aged as burdens and that they cause stress to the caregivers who end up inflicting violence on them. It is recommended that strict measures be put in place to care for this population. References Action on Elder Abuse (AEA), 2002. Perspectives on Elder Abuse. London: AEA. Anetzberger, G., 2012. An Update on the Nature and Scope of Elder Abuse. Journal of the American Society on Aging, 36(3): 12-20. Bennet, G., Kingston, P., & Penhale, B.,1997. The Dimensions of elder Abuse: Perspectives for Practitioners. London: Macmillian. Gray-Vickrey, P., 2004. Combating Elder Abuse. Nursing, 34(10):47-51. Lachs, M., & Pillemer, K., 2004. Elder Abuse. Lancet, 364: 1263–72. Lee, M., 2009. A Path Analysis on Elder Abuse by Family Caregivers: Applying the ABCX Model. J Fam Viol 24:1–9.DOI 10.1007/s10896-008-9192-5 McDonald, P.L., Hornick, J.P., Robertston, G.B. & Wallace, J.E., 1991. Elder Abuse and Neglect in Canada. Toronto: Butterworth. OKeeffe, M., Hills, A., Doyle, M., McCreadie, C., Scholes, S., Constantine, R., Tinker, A., Manthorpe, J., Biggs, S., & Erens, B., 2007. UK Study of Elder Abuse and Neglect of Older People: Prevalence Survey Report. London: National Centre for Social Research. World Health Organisation, 2002. The Toronto Declaration on the Global Prevention of Elder Abuse. Geneva: WHO. Read More