Community Approaches to Elder Abuse

Evidence-Based Approaches to Remedy and Also to Prevent Abuse of Community-Dwelling Older Persons

“…Other studies have also identified interdisciplinary teams as the hallmark of abuse treatment programs [25–31], including the Family Care Conference study described above [17]. A collective interdisciplinary approach is understandable, as abused older persons typically have many interrelated issues affecting them, in part because as they are unlikely to suffer from only one form of abuse.…”

“…It is important to recognize that no single discipline is capable of sufficiently understanding and resolving all causes or consequences of abuse; interdisciplinary approaches therefore ensure that multiple aspects of each abused person's well-being are assessed and addressed [23, 25–27]. Multiple risk factors or contributors to abuse are also more likely to be considered by teams—such as social isolation, emotional and physical dependency, low income and education, housing issues, financial improprieties, and perhaps even substance abuse [8].…”

Elder Mistreatment in U.S. Residential Care Facilities: The Scope of the Problem

“…In addition, ADHS is an "official" agency with legal power to levee citations and enforcement actions. On the other hand, lack of involvement by other investigative bodies points to the "hidden" nature of these incidents and speaks to the system fragmentation in elder abuse reporting and need for interdisciplinary involvement in detection that has been discussed by many (e.g., Dyer, Heisler, Hill, & Kim, 2005;Liao, Jayawardena, Bufalini, & Wiglesworth, 2009). The small proportion of deaths referred to the medical examiner, while consistent with some reports of autopsy rates for individuals 70 years and older who die in hospitals (Shokrani & Fidelia-Lambert, 2005), also points to a major gap in the system in which medical examiners are not commonly consulted as part of the teams investigating suspected elder mistreatment (Lindbloom et.…”

Barriers to Neglect and Self‐Neglect Research

“…There is general agreement that neglect is the most common form of elder mistreatment and creates enormous human suffering as well as economic cost to the individual in the system. Current methodologies suggest the use of an elder neglect expert team that is responsible for diagnosis and treatment of cases of elder neglect 3 . Members of this team may include a geriatrician, nurse practitioner, social worker, other health professionals, and adult protective service workers.…”

“…Members of this team may include a geriatrician, nurse practitioner, social worker, other health professionals, and adult protective service workers. In addition, law enforcement officers, attorneys, ethicists, and forensic psychiatrists may be called upon to assist the patient 3 . The costs, in terms of human capital, and implementing such a system appear large, but failure to adequately assess neglect may result in even higher consequences for healthcare systems, families, and service providers, such as more‐complex untreated medical conditions and legal and ethical challenges.…”