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This study provides data on elder abuse and neglect in German nursing homes. It uses a multimethod approach to analyse conditions leading to abusive and neglectful behaviour.

Research on EA/MOA needs conceptual development. Confining phenomena of EA/MOA to specific relationships and tying them to notions of vulnerability has implications for research design and sampling and points to the limits of population-based victimization surveys.

This article provides an overview of the development of a research agenda on resident-to-resident aggression (RRA) in long-term care facilities by an expert panel of researchers and practitioners. A 1-day consensus-building workshop using a modified Delphi approach was held to gain consensus on nomenclature and an operational definition for RRA, to identify RRA research priorities, and to develop a roadmap for future research on these priorities. Among the six identified terms in the literature, RRA was selected. The top five priorities were: (a) developing/assessing RRA environmental interventions; (b) identification of the environmental factors triggering RRA; (c) incidence/prevalence of RRA; (d) developing/assessing staff RRA education interventions; and (e) identification of RRA perpetrator and victim characteristics. Given the significant harm RRA poses for long-term care residents, this meeting is an important milestone, as it is the first organized effort to mobilize knowledge on this under-studied topic at the research, clinical, and policy levels.

By definition, elder abuse research touches upon topics also covered by criminological theories. However, up until now, attempts to apply criminological theories to this field of research are scarce and the potential of criminological theory to enhance the understanding of elder abuse phenomena appears underdeveloped. The paper explores potentials and limitations of applying both theories and their related concepts from criminology to elder abuse. Financial elder abuse and abuse and neglect in domestic caregiving are chosen as types of offences to discuss the usefulness of criminological theory. A special focus is on Routine Activity Theory (RAT). While basic concepts of RAT ("suitable target", "absence of capable guardians") are directly applicable to elder abuse, motivational components have to be added or strengthened to make RAT a powerful framework to understand elder abuse. This is in concordance with general criticisms of RAT focussing upon the mechanisms through which at the intersection of individual and environment, individuals are moved to commit criminal or abusive acts. Wikström's Situational Action Theory of Crime Causation is discussed with regard to its potential of understanding and explaining incidents of elder abuse and neglect.