Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T23:07:39.780Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Older adults abuse: analysis of a New Zealand national dataset

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2020

Yvette Hall ,
Philippa Greco ,
Kenny Hau  and
Yoram Barak Open the ORCID record for Yoram Barak [Opens in a new window]
Yvette Hall
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Philippa Greco
Affiliation:
Southern District Health Board, Dunedin, New Zealand
Kenny Hau
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Yoram Barak*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Yoram Barak, Department Psychological Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. Email: [email protected].
Get access

Abstract

Older adult abuse (OAA), defined as abuse, neglect, or mistreatment of persons aged 65 years or older, is a globally pervasive concern, with severe consequences for its victims. While internationally reported rates of OAA are in the range of 5–20% per annum, New Zealand lacks the necessary data to quantify the issue. However, with a growing aging population, an increase in the prevalence of OAA is predicted. We investigated the extent of OAA in New Zealand, utilizing the mandatory interRAI-HC (International Resident Assessment Instrument-home care assessment) dataset, which included 18,884 interviewees from the Southern District Health Board between 2013 and 2019. Findings confirmed our hypothesis that the interRAI assessment is neither sufficiently sensitive nor specific capturing only 3% from a population of increased frailty and thus at higher risk of abuse. We characterized OAA victims as relatively younger males, depressed, and with impaired decision-making capacity. If the interRAIs were to serve as a preliminary screening tool for OAA in New Zealand, it would be germane to implement changes to improve its detection rate. Further studies are urgently called for to test changes in the interRAI that will aid in identifying often missed cases of OAA better and thus offer protection to this vulnerable population.

Keywords

abuseolder adultsinterRAI
Type
Brief Report
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 32 , Issue 8: Issue Theme: Technology for Brain Health and Artificial Wisdom , August 2020 , pp. 1003 - 1008
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aziz, O. A., Ball, C., Creedy, J. and Eedrah, J. (2015). The distributional impact of population ageing in New Zealand. New Zealand Economic Papers, 49, 207–226.Google Scholar
Band-Winterstein, T. (2018). The elder abuse and neglect phenomenon in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish society: social workers’ perspectives. International Psychogeriatrics, 30, 1403–1412.Google ScholarPubMed
Braun, V. (2008). “She’ll be right”? National identity explanations for poor sexual health statistics in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Social Science & Medicine, 67, 1817–1825.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Donder, L.et al. (2011). European map of prevalence rates of elder abuse and its impact for future research. European Journal of Ageing, 8, 129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garre-Olmo, J., Planas-Pujol, X., López-Pousa, S., Juvinyà, D., Vilà, A. and Vilalta-Franch, J. (2009). Prevalence and risk factors of suspected elder abuse subtypes in people aged 75 and older. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 57, 815–822.Google ScholarPubMed
Gremillion, D. H. and Kanof, E. P. (1996). Overcoming barriers to physician involvement in identifying and referring victims of domestic violence. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 27, 769–773.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halphen, J. M., Varas, G. M. and Sadowsky, J. M. (2009). Recognizing and reporting elder abuse and neglect. Geriatrics, 64, 13–18.Google ScholarPubMed
Jackson, S. L. (2016). The shifting conceptualization of elder abuse in the United States: from social services, to criminal justice, and beyond. International Psychogeriatrics, 28, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Joubert, L. and Posenelli, S. (2009). Responding to a “window of opportunity”: the detection and management of aged abuse in an acute and subacute health care setting. Social Work in Health Care, 48, 702–714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Judd, F.et al. (2006). Help-seeking by rural residents for mental health problems: the importance of agrarian values. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 40, 769–776.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karakurt, G. and Silver, K. E. (2013). Emotional abuse in intimate relationships: the role of gender and age. Violence & Victims, 28, 804–821.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kardile, M. S. and Peisah, C. (2017). Elder abuse by abandonment in India: a novel community awareness and intervention strategy. International Psychogeriatrics, 29, 1035–1036.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knight, B. G., Kim, S., Rastegar, S., Jones, S., Jump, V. and Wong, S. (2016). Influences on the perception of elder financial abuse among older adults in Southern California. International Psychogeriatrics, 28, 163–169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lachs, M. S. and Pillemer, K. A. (2015). Elder Abuse. The New England Journal of Medicine, 373, 1947–1956.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leitch, S., Glue, P., Gray, A. R., Greco, P. and Barak, Y. (2018). Comparison of psychosocial variables associated with loneliness in centenarian vs elderly populations in New Zealand. JAMA Network Open, 1, e183880.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindenberg, J., Westendorp, R. G., Kurrle, S. and Biggs, S. (2013). Elder abuse an international perspective: exploring the context of elder abuse. International Psychogeriatrics, 25, 1213–1215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peri, K., Fanslow, J., Hand, J. and Parsons, J. (2009). Keeping older people safe by preventing elder abuse and neglect. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 159–172.Google Scholar
WHO (2002). Missing Voices: Views of Older Persons on Elder Abuse. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Yeung, P. and Breheny, M. (2016). Using the capability approach to understand the determinants of subjective well-being among community-dwelling older people in New Zealand. Age and Ageing, 45, 292–298.Google ScholarPubMed