Bullying in Senior Living Facilities: Perspectives of Long-Term Care Staff

Abstract

Resident-to-resident bullying has attracted attention in the media, but little empirical literature exists related to the topic of senior bullying. The aim of the current study was to better understand resident-to-resident bullying from the perspective of staff who work with older adults. Forty-five long-term care staff members were interviewed regarding their observations of bullying. Results indicate that most staff members have observed bullying. Verbal bullying was the most observed type of bullying, but social bullying was also prevalent. Victims and perpetrators were reported to commonly have cognitive and physical disabilities. More than one half of participants had not received formal training and only 21% reported their facility had a formal policy to address bullying. The implications of these results support the need for detailed policies and training programs for staff to effectively intervene when bullying occurs. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 43(7), 34-41.].

Estudio comparativo de los problemas de convivencia entre personas mayores institucionalizadas versus aula de mayores

“…As for future lines of research, it would be interesting to administer the instruments in different regions, carry out comparative studies, increase the number of participants and include the situation of professionals to know the strategies they must act in situations of harassment (Andresen & Buchanan, 2017). In another line, it would be interesting to include the role of public and private institutions as an independent variable in the explanation of coexistence in old age (Funk et al, 2019), with the final application of managing equality policies (Huenchuan et al, 2021).…”

“…It appears that these negative behaviors among older adults occur mainly in the form of relational bullying, without physical contact, with the intention of preventing the formation of peer relationships with the most frequent aggressions being verbal and social, not physical (VandeNest, 2016). Following this idea, in a set of interviews with 45 professionals caring for the elderly in institutionalized centers in the western United States of America, it was found that all but one of the participants had witnessed bullying situations in their facilities, with verbal bullying being the most frequent, followed by social bullying (Andresen & Buchanan, 2017).…”

An Intergenerational Comparison of Reactions to Mobbing at Workplace

“…In their study, Andresen and Buchanan (2017) reported that the most common type of mobbing in business is verbal mobbing with 95%, followed by social or psychological mobbing with 24% and physical mobbing with 5% (Andresen and Buchanan 2017).…”

Resident-to-Resident Aggression in Private Seniors’ Residences

“…Snellgrove et al (2015) presented a main strategy developed by employees to prevent and manage RRA, including three subthemes and 16 specific interventions. Studies including the general viewpoint of CRFs’ actors usually quantify the prevalence of RRA, sometimes adding analyses regarding other manifestations such as types (Botngård et al, 2020; Lachs et al, 2016) or characteristics of persons involved (Andresen & Buchanan, 2017). Only five studies included a method based on the experience of residents involved in RRA.…”