Prevalence of older adults' abuse and neglect in Portugal: an overview

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify, describe and compare the studies of the prevalence of abuse and neglect of older adults developed in Portugal. Design/methodology/approach – A retrospective bibliographic search of seven descriptors in English and Portuguese, of academic and professional papers and university institutional repositories was performed. Findings – Of the nine studies selected, seven consisted of grey literature – research developed within the course of academic post-graduate studies. The studies were conducted on a small scale, more often than not, through a non-probabilistic convenience sampling method. From the nine studies, two instruments prevailed: the Questions to Elicit Elder Abuse aimed at older adults and the Caregiver Abuse Screen aimed at caregivers. Community-dwelling older adults self-reported a higher prevalence of abuse (between 66.7 and 86.7 per cent) than care professionals working with older adults suffering from dementia (between 26.7 and 47.4 per cent). Emotional abuse and neglect were the first and second most prevalent forms of abuse, followed by financial abuse, whereas physical abuse was the least prevalent type of abuse encountered. A poorer perception of health, not making/receiving visits and residing in an urban area were the more consistent variables associated with abuse of older adults. Originality/value – Overall, this paper provides a first consideration to the prevalence rates of older adult abuse and neglect from research studies in Portugal. The revised design studies and screening methods employed can help researchers improve future study design and move from the description to a more theoretically oriented research. Furthermore, it can help practitioners learn screening methods and discover the findings associated with abuse

Fatores de risco para a ocorrência de violência contra a pessoa idosa: revisão sistemática

“…Exposição Desfecho das vítimas, o receio em confrontar o agressor e a falta de protocolos de atuação para denunciar a situação de violência, parecem constituir algumas razões explicativas da falha no diagnóstico e da subnotificação de violência nas pessoas idosas. 6,11,22,23,29 Um exemplo de boas práticas na detecção, prevenção e intervenção na violência são as unidades especializadas na abordagem da pessoa idosa vítima de violência, desenvolvidas em alguns Estados dos EUA (e.g., Elder Abuse Forensic Centers-EAFC, Vulnerable Adult Specialist Teams -VASTs e Senior Crime Prevention Unit -SCPU). Estas unidades, organizadas localmente, são constituídas por equipas multidisciplinares e disponibilizam uma ampla gama de serviços e cuidados para o apoio à vítima idosa.…”

“…24 Por fim e decorrente dos fatores anteriormente explorados, verifica-se também a inexistência de uma rede estruturada e multiprofissional para o rastreio da violência contra a pessoa idosa e a falta de denúncia por parte das vítimas ou por parte de testemunhas, leva a uma subnotificação desses casos. 11,29 Por esta ordem de razões, o objetivo deste trabalho é o de contribuir para a sistematização de evidências científicas acerca dos fatores de risco de violência contra as pessoas idosas, de forma a traçar linhas estratégicas preventivas e interventivas.…”

Care of Elderly in Portugal: Official Data and Scientific and Professional Challenges

“…The research in this area in Portugal is fairly recent but some prevalence studies are mentionable. Before 2010, only 9 studies were conducted and were summarized in a review by Santos, Ferreira-Alves and Penhale (2011). Most of the studies were unpublished or were developed for monographic or master's thesis.…”

“…Most of the studies were unpublished or were developed for monographic or master's thesis. These works generally had small samples and established the prevalence rates of abuse by recurring to screening measures (for more information about this studies consult Santos et al 2011).…”

“…Although research with caregivers is scarcer, when it is the case the more commonly used measure is the Caregiver Abuse Screen (Reis and Nahmiash 1995). This measure was translated and validated by Afonso, Ferreira-Alves, Daly and Martín (2009, as cited in Santos et al 2011) and although the validation data were not published, subsequent studies have found that the measure had a questionable internal consistency, measured by Cronbach's alpha of .65 (Santos, Ferreira-Alves, and Penhale 2011). Other measures have been validated, mainly as part of the development of masters dissertations or other academic studies, like the IDANHQ (Daly and Jogerst 2005), VASS (Schofield and Mishra 2003) and EAI (Fulmer, Street, and Carr 1984).…”