reflection paper

Elder abuse has been an isolated case for so many years and it’s a pity that it took the country centuries to even publish its first report on the same. It was not until 2002 that any major developments started taking place in the country. Elder abuse is now a globally recognized as a violation of human rights everywhere but there are little initiatives that have been taken to mange and change it. The international community, the governments as well as the public has taken sporadic measures although the researchers have not helped that either. The government of Ireland, through the Department of Health and Children (DoHC), has however established strong foundations that seek to identify and respond to any form of elder abuse. The international community, through coordinated means has dedicated resources to analyze the prevalence of such cases and Ireland has happened to be one of them. Despite those efforts, little is still know of what comprises elder abuse. This makes it difficult to quantify the data and guarantee accuracy of findings besides developing a basis of comparison with other countries like UK and US (O’Donnell et al., 2012). Somebody may wonder the kind of policies and actions that are appropriate to respond to the elder abuse when there is little understanding of even what that comprises.

Elder abuse is defined in the context of financial, psychological and physical abuse as well as neglect (O’Donnell et al., 2012). However, it can also include trust between the perpetrator (family members, care workers and close friends) and the older person. The method used for this study used a ≥10 as the baseline of the abuse. Several behavior questions were used with psychological, physical and sexual question done on Conflict Tactics Scale [7, 13, 14] with neglect and sexual abuse done based on NY and UK prevalence studies. Neglect was confined to people that required help with daily activities and Activities of Daily Living tool (ADL) was used. These are good parameters to use considering they are assembled from diverse backgrounds within which they have indicated better results. With this topic being complex, it is important that there is agreement of definitions as well as consensus of methods. The sample size data collection method, multi-stage cluster random probability sample with quota controls for age and gender, is good the best in a face-to-face scenario as it is flexible, time effective and cost effective as well (Kalton, 1983). However, the method has high level of subjectivity and group level information is required. The descriptive statistic analysis used is convenient as it enabled the researchers to identify and distinguish mistreatment from non-mistreatment.

As the research found, there a prevalence relative to the global one on elder abuse. The preference of the abuse in Ireland stands at 2.2% which is broken down to 1.1% coming from neglect, financial (0.7%), physical (0.4%), psychological (0.4%), and sexual abuse (0.2%). There are varying findings from various places with Ireland scoring marvelously. However, one thing that is not clear is the reasoning of such low prevalence especially relative to other developed economies. There is a growing concern that elder abuse may increase in prevalence, complexity and incidence and stereotypes act the societal breeding ground of that abuse (Latch and Pillermer, 2015). It is unfortunate that there is insufficient information to address the issue in a global context. For instance in the US, people over the age of 65 years will be 25% of the population by 2050, the higher population will translate to higher prevalence of abuse if counteractive measures are not taken in advance (Sharon, 2012). Sharon (2012) found that 84% of the abuse cases are not reported which makes it difficult to take any legal action against the perpetrators.

Elder abuse happening in our societies has been kept away from the public eye thus making it difficult to root out such cancerous activities. O’Donnell (2012) reports abuse used to be reported in the UK journals of the 1970s, but it wasn’t until late 20th century and early 21st century that constructions began to take shape. Ireland alone, the population of elders is expected to hit 1.4 million by 2041 from the 535,393 people recorded in the 2011 census. How well is the country prepared to handle this challenge? The problem with the laws that are used by most of the countries are concerned with reporting and education and prevention rather than protection (O’Donnell, 2012).

We are living at a time where elder abuse is not an isolated case anymore. The fight should not be left to few individuals but all us. The elders also should play their role of being candid to reveal the injustice they encounter. There portion of unreported cases is compelling and it unfortunate that the abuse increases with age especially for men. Age makes the elderly people docile in physically entailing activities and therefore not able to engage in any financially generated activity (Latch and Pillermer, 2015). It lenders them dependent on family, friends and caregivers to offer financial support which makes them think its reason enough not to. The research does not offer means of empowering the older people to come out of the darkness and shout out against their abuse (Sharon, 2012). What most elders fear for is confidentiality as they may fall victims if the report abuse to the relevant authorities.

As O’Donnell (2012) reports, the best way to respond to abuse is to avoid it before happening. However, the article fails to give recommendations on the best practices required to prevent the already precarious situation from escalating as research shows. Studies have exposed the high aggression and interpersonal violence levels towards the older people especially those in long-term care facilities. As Latch and Pillermer (2015) suggests, understanding of the abuse manifestations of older people requires an inter-professional-team approach whereby medical professionals connect with other specialist in other disciplines (Latch and Pillermer, 2015).

It is evident that the research gives no recommendations on the possible modes of action. The research was done in a one on one situation and therefore it should have provided the sample population a chance of giving their opinion on the necessary measures that have improved their quality of life and what policies they felt that should be implemented to ensure their abuse is contained. However, it generally was a success as it gave an image of the abuse in the country. This is one of the many researches to aid the policy makers understand the areas that need attention.

References

i. Kalton, G. (1983). Introduction to survey sampling. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

ii. O’Donnell, D., Treacy, M.P., Fealy, G., Lyons, I., Phelan, A., Lafferty, A., Drennan, J., Quin, S., O’Loughlin, A. (2012) Managing Elder Abuse in Ireland: The Senior Case Worker’s Experience, NCPOP, University College Dublin.

iii. Latch, M. and Pillermer, K. (2015) Elder Abuse. The New England Journal of Medicine. 373(20). 1947-1956.

iv. Sharon, S. (2012) Elder abuse: Screening, intervention, and prevention. Nursing. 42(10), 24-29. doi: 10.1097/01.NURSE.0000419426.05524.45

Bottom of Form