June is Elder Abuse
Awareness Month. I have included some statistics below so you can better understand what elder abuse is and the different types of elder abuse.
·
Elder
Abuse is an intentional or negligent action that causes harm or creates a
serious risk of harm to an older adult.
·
Accurate
estimates of the prevalence of this problem are difficult to obtain, as many
older people do not report being abused.
·
The
most common form of elder abuse is neglect, followed by physical abuse and
financial exploitation.
·
Other
forms of elder abuse include emotional abuse, sexual abuse and abandonment.
·
Most
elder abuse victims are female and adult children are the most frequent abusers
of older persons.
·
Risk
factors for elder abuse include social isolation, dementia in the victim,
mental illness of the abuser, alcohol or drug abuse, and mutual dependence
between the abuser and the victim.
Different types of Elder Abuse
- Physical
Abuse—Inflicting,
or threatening to inflict, physical pain or injury on a vulnerable elder,
or depriving them of a basic need.
- Emotional
Abuse—Inflicting
mental pain, anguish, or distress on an elder person through verbal or
nonverbal acts.
- Sexual
Abuse—Non-consensual
sexual contact of any kind, coercing an elder to witness sexual behaviors.
- Exploitation—Illegal taking, misuse, or
concealment of funds, property, or assets of a vulnerable elder.
- Neglect—Refusal or failure by those
responsible to provide food, shelter, health care or protection for a
vulnerable elder.
- Abandonment—The desertion of a vulnerable elder by anyone who has assumed the responsibility for care or custody of that person.
