Criminological Theory and Elder Abuse Research—Fruitful Relationship or Worlds Apart?

Goergen, Thomas; Beaulieu, Marie

doi:10.1007/s12126-010-9063-2

Cited by 19 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…As such, understandings about elder abuse are considered to be shaped by bio-social-cultural-political-historic factors and notions about the nature of elder abuse are likely to be multiple and varied, and practice complex and uncertain. This is evidenced in the literature where opinions about what constitutes elder abuse have been debated for a number of decades (Penhale & Parker, 2008;Göergen & Beaulieu, 2010;Anand, Begley, O'Brien, Taylor & Killick, 2013;Phelan, 2014) and where it is observed that social workers navigate this complexity and uncertainty by developing their own particular ways of working (Estes, Biggs & Phillipson, 2003).…”

Section: Research Aims and Questionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…International literature pinpoints similar factors for abuse in later life (Nerenberg, 2008;McClennen, 2010;Göergen & Beaulieu, 2010;Payne, 2011). However, it is important to recognise that these factors could equally apply to abuse in whānau/families more generally.…”

Section: Risk Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, despite an appearance of universality (and decades of debate and research), the meaning of this phrase remains uncertain (Penhale & Parker, 2008;Göergen & Beaulieu, 2010;Anand, Begley, O'Brien, Taylor & Killick, 2013;Ploeg et al, 2013;Phelan, 2014). While the definitional debate is examined more fully later in this chapter, the issues are briefly prefaced here by way of introduction.…”

Section: Contested Meaningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nerenberg (2008, p. 29) identified the influence of personal judgments in decisions about harm, suggesting that assessing harm requires "getting inside the heads of abusers to discover motives, beliefs, perceptions, and intentions". Kosberg and Garcia (1997), Penhale and Parker (2008), Donovan and Regehr (2010) and Jackson and Hafemeister (2011) Göergen and Beaulieu (2010) acknowledge that harm is a complex concept. Their contribution is that they make explicit the importance of appreciating both the circumstances in which the harm occurs (including the relationships between the abuser and the abused), and the opportunistic factors that may be involved.…”

Section: What Denotes Harm To An Older Person?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A criminology perspective offers useful insights, suggesting that harm can be understood in a number of ways (Stewart, 2009;Göergen & Beaulieu, 2010) and advocating that attention be focussed on motivation of abuse, the actual or potential harm experienced by the older person, and/or short and long damage that is (and may be) done to the relationship if the abuse continues. This perspective also offers insights into dimensions of harm not readily observed in other literature.…”

Section: What Denotes Harm To An Older Person?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A cog in the wheel or an agent of change: Knowledge use and practice with older people who are abused in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Brook¹

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Across the past three decades a growing national and international concern about elder abuse is evident in policy, research and social and health care practice. There is currently a considerable body of literature on prevalence, predictors and risk factors as well as debates about definitions, conceptualisations and appropriate legal, policy and practice responses. There is more limited research on how the conceptualisations of ageing and elder abuse shape professional practice. Knowledge use and social work practice in elder abuse in the context of Aotearoa/New Zealand is the focus of this thesis.This thesis presents a qualitative exploratory study of elder abuse practice as reported by twenty social workers engaged in frontline elder abuse work throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand. The purposive sample of social workers practised in a variety of settings and were situated in different geographic locations across the country. The primary focus of this study is to explore how elder abuse is understood, how cases of In individual semi-structured interviews, participants were asked to describe their understandings of elder abuse, to explore the knowledge they use to inform these understandings, and to give details about what actions they take when encountering situations of abuse.An interpretative, social constructionist approach to this research was taken. All twenty accounts of practice were analysed thematically. This provided a means by which the processes of, and influences on, meaning, knowledge use and response-making could be scrutinised, and an understanding of elder abuse practice in Aotearoa/New Zealand could be discerned.The findings indicate that the term 'elder abuse' is universally recognised and articulated in practice, but when explored in depth, understandings about what constitutes elder abuse varied, were dependent on the knowledge individual social ii | P a g e workers brought to their practice, and on the context in which the practice occurred. This knowledge was not always explicitly used and consequently was often left unscrutinised. The use of tacit knowledge was seen to facilitate the establishment of patterns of practice that have become customary and are left unchallenged.The influence of the context on what could or could not be done to respond to elder abuse was acknowledged by many of these social workers. Beyond the immediate resource constraints that were recognised as limiting their options to address abuse, the significance of the socio-economic-historic-cultural-political context and how this informed and shaped social work practice (and the experiences of older people) were not readily identified by most. When these factors were noted, they were largely considered to be insurmountable.The findings from this study highlight that a narrow approach is taken by most of the social workers in this study when working with older people who are abused. There is little demonstrated understanding the socio/political context in which the abuse occurs, and the systemic issues that may co...

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Section: Research Aims and Questionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Risk Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%