Identifying Suspected Elder Abuse
Elder abuse is a concern for all practitioners who care for elderly patients. Here, quick reference to identify suspected elder abuse.
The elderly population is particularly susceptable to exploitation, violence, and mistreatment.1 A major public health issue, elder abuse consists of behaviors toward the elderly that are malignant and damaging. The tipsheet below is for quick reference to identify suspected elder abuse.
TIPSHEET: ELDER ABUSE
Types of elder abuse
â Physical abuse (use of force resulting in pain, bruises, injury, or other impairment)
â Sexual abuse (non-consensual physical contact that is sexual in nature, rape, assault, exposure, nudity, etc)
â Emotional/psychological abuse (verbal and/or non-verbal aggression that results in distress of the victim)
Elder abuse risk factors
â Clinical
Short-term memory impairment
Dementia
Depression
Physical dependence, manifested by deficits in activities of daily living
Substance abuse (by patient or caregiver)
â Situational
Social isolation
Poor social functioning
Recent bereavement, especially loss of partner
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