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Risk Factors for Abuse and Neglect among Older Adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Elizabeth Dow Pittaway ,
Anne Westhues  and
Tracy Peressini
Elizabeth Dow Pittaway
Affiliation:
University of Victoria
Anne Westhues
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University
Tracy Peressini
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Abstract

This research presents risk factors for abuse and neglect among older adults who accessed health and social service organizations in London, Ontario, 1991. The paper reviews four theoretical perspectives on elder abuse and neglect: the situational model, social exchange theory, symbolic interactionism and a feminist model. Risk factors for physical abuse, chronic verbal abuse, material abuse and neglect were identified for each theoretical model. Each set of risk factors was regressed on each type of abuse in order to determine the efficacy of the theoretical models. The data suggest that the risk factors associated with the situational and feminist model(s) provide the best fit in terms of physical abuse; the symbolic interaction model explains the most variance in chronic verbal abuse; both the symbolic interaction and feminist models explain about the same amount of variance in neglect; and none of the theoretical models adequately explains the variance in material abuse.

Résumé

Cette recherche présente les facteurs de risque d'abus et de mauvais traitements chez les personnes âgées qui ont fait appel à des organismes sociaux et de santé à London, en Ontario, en 1991. L'article passe en revue quatre points de vue théoriques sur l'abus et les mauvais traitements à l'égard des aînés, soit le modèle de situation, la théorie d'échange social, la théorie d'interaction symbolique et le modèle féministe. Les facteurs de risque de violence physique, de violence verbale chronique, d'abus matériel et de négligence ont été identifiés pour chaque modèle théorique. Chaque ensemble de facteurs de risque a été régressé sur chaque type de mauvais traitement afin de déterminer l'efficacité des modèles théoriques. Les données suggèrent que les facteurs de risque associés aux modèles de situation et féministe offrent la meilleure mesure en ce qui touche la violence physique; le modèle d'interaction symbolique explique plus de la variance de la violence verbale chronique; et les modèles d'interaction symbolique et féministe expliquent la même quantité de variance de la négligence. Aucun des modèles théoriques n'expliquent adéquatement les variances de l'abus matériel.

Keywords

AbuseNeglectRisk FactorsTheory.Abusnégligencefacteurs de risquethéorie.
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 14 , supplement S2 , Été/Summer 1995 , pp. 20 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1995

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