Indigenised approaches to addressing elder abuse in Uganda

Abstract

Summary The social gerontological field has long called for a culturally appropriate framework to understand, prevent, and respond to elder abuse in the Global South. This emphasis is, in part, based on the notion that elder abuse is a cultural and structural concern that cannot be effectively addressed using mainstream social work approaches. Therefore, indigenised approaches are preferred while tackling cultural and structural forms of elder abuse. However, despite several attempts, there is limited research on indigenised approaches and practices within the gerontological social work field. Therefore, we investigated how social work could promote indigenised approaches to better address elder abuse. We explored this through in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 21 social workers. Findings Elder abuse is a cultural and structural social problem that requires family- and community-centred approaches premised on the Indigenous values of togetherness, reciprocity, solidarity, responsibility and love for humanity. These approaches must be embedded in people’s cultures and knowledge to address the social structural changes that have contributed to elder abuse in the Global South. Applications Social workers should strengthen family and community support to achieve social capital and inclusion for older people. This will not only enable families and communities to safeguard their older members, but also enhance community-based solutions to address elder abuse. Social work educators should engage in robust and rigorous research and curriculum change for social work education to enable the integration of post-colonial theories and approaches into social work training.

Examining the effect of elder abuse on welfare status: the case of selected districts in Southwestern Uganda

“…The study targeted the opinions of a population of 437 respondents who included caregivers, probation offices, community development officers, police, local leaders, religious leaders and CSOs in Kisoro, Rukiga, Rukungiri, Bushenyi and Mbarara districts in Southwestern Uganda. The districts were chosen because studies have indicated that instances of poor welfare of older persons had been on the rise (Atim et al , 2023; Wamara et al , 2022). The above respondents who formed the unit of analysis were chosen because they on a daily basis work with the elderly persons, know their challenges and hence were much suited to provide appropriate responses for this study.…”