Introduction
The advancement in medicine has increased the life expectancy worldwide, which has resulted in older adults being the fastest-growing demographics. Experts refer to older adults as people who are 60 years and above, which is when most people go for retirement. The life expectancy in the United States in 2019 was 78.79 years, which is one of the lowest among the wealthy nations (Naleppa et al., 2018). However, despite the extension of their lives, older adults experience several challenges that may decrease the quality of their life and make them susceptible to elder abuse. Elder abuse is a public health issue that includes emotional abuse, neglect, physical abuse, abandonment, sexual abuse, and exploitation. Perpetrators of elder abuse include families, spouses, and staff in living or nursing homes. This paper will provide an overview of the elderly abuse victim population and analyze their needs. Prevention of elder abuse is essential to ensure that all older adults are comfortable and happy during the last years of their lives.
Overview of the Elder Abuse Victim Population
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2021), approximately 1 in 6 people aged 60 years and above experienced some form of abuse in 2020. Elder abuse includes sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and financial abuse. Physical abuse involves hitting, burning, pushing, kicking, slapping, and other physical forces on an older adult. Sexual abuse involves engaging in unwanted or forced interaction with an elderly. Psychological abuse involves using nonverbal or verbal behavior to inflict fear, anguish, distress, and mental pain on older adults. Financial abuse involves the illegal use by a caregiver of the older adult’s money, assets, belongings, and properties. Finally, neglect is the caregiver to meet the elder’s basic needs. Perpetrators of elder abuse include families, spouses, and staff in the arranged living settings. According to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) (2022), approximately 1 in 10 people aged 60 years and above who live at home experience neglect and exploitation. More than 643,000 older adults from 2002 to 2016 experienced nonfatal physical abuse, and more than 19,000 homicides occurred. The risk of elder abuse increases with dependency. The dependency may be due to a physical disability that does not allow the older adult to conduct any activity independently with the help of a caregiver. It may be due to cognitive impairments such as dementia, which is an illness in which the cognitive abilities of a person deteriorate over time. According to Naleppa et al. (2018), approximately 24.3 million people globally had dementia in 2005, and one case occurs in every 7 seconds. Research has indicated that about half of older adults with dementia have experienced neglect or abuse (Naleppa et al., 2018). These impairments hinder older adults from leaving the abuse environment and reporting the perpetrator, which has led to few elder abuse cases that do not paint a clear picture of the issue.
However, not all caregivers perpetrate elder abuse willingly, but to some, it is out of frustration and fear (Ludvigsson et al., 2022). For example, a single mother has four children below the age of 18 years, and her mother who have a physical impairment and needs care and constant visits to the doctor due to underlying chronic conditions, and the woman hardly makes enough to take care of her children. In that case, the woman may see her mother as a burden and lash out at her causing her mental pain not because she means to, but because of the financial difficulties, she is experiencing. However, others willingly commit the abuse, primarily financial and sexual abuse (Ludvigsson et al., 2022). For example, a family member may decide to take possession of an older adult’s money and lock them in a facility or leave them in a hospital with unpaid bills. Elder abuse can severely impact older adults because they already have deteriorated health.
Needs of Elder Abuse Victims
Biological Needs
Biological needs are the physical requirements that human beings need to survive. First, elder abuse victims need balanced diet food to maintain and improve their health. The majority of the neglected elders spend most of their alone with nobody to fix them a plate of food. Some of them have impairments that do not allow them to cook or prepare a meal. In most cases, elder abuse victims eat food with no proper nutrition, which can adversely affect their health (Lachs & Karl, 2015). Elder abuse victims also need shelter free of abuse. For example, if an elder lives in a home or facility where they experience any form of abuse. The most appropriate approach is to remove the older adult in that setting and take them to a facility with no abuse. However, this becomes difficult because most elder abuse victims do not report that they are experiencing abuse. However, there are several symptoms that social workers can use to determine if an older adult is experiencing abuse. According to Luvigsson et al. (2022), some symptoms of abuse include unexplained burns, scars, bruises and cuts, lack of medical aids, signs of trauma such as rocking back and forth, trouble sleeping, poor hygiene, weight loss, and physical signs of restraint or punishment.
Psychological and Social needs
Psychological needs refer to the needs crucial to a person’s mental health. Elder abuse victims experience mental anguish, regardless of the form of abuse they have experienced. For example, if a family member sexually assaults an elder, the elder may experience psychological issues such as depression and anxiety. Elder abuse victims need psychological help such as counseling or therapy to help them cope with their trauma (Lachs & Karl, 2015). The victims also need to be in environments with no abuse that causes them anguish. A social worker cannot provide therapy to an abuse victim and leave them to stay in the same conditions. The most appropriate would be to remove them from the hostile environment and then provide them with psychological treatment. Security is one of the social needs the elder abuse victims require (Lachs & Karl, 2015). Staying in an abusive environment can be fatal for older adults, keeping in mind that they have deteriorated health. Elder abuse victims need to have a sense of belonging, which can help with mental healing after abuse. Elder abuse victims can form support groups where they can share their pain and experiences. Joining the support groups will help them have a sense of belonging by realizing that they are not the only ones who went through such experiences. Elder abuse victims need their families. All family members do not usually perpetrate abuse, and being able to have a healthy relationship with his family is crucial for an older adult (Lachs & Karl, 2015). Different cultures have different ways of taking care of the elderly. For example, Chinese families bear the burden of taking care of elderly members, and as people age, they are happy to move in with their family members. However, the situation is different in the United States because the elderly strive to maintain their independence and avoid being a burden to their families (Naleppa et al., 2018). However, regardless of the living setting, informing the family member of an assault of an elder will allow them to stop the abuse and help the elderly in recovery. Finally, elder abuse victims need health care to treat their physical injuries and underlying conditions.
Spiritual Needs
Elder abuse victims need social workers to listen to their concerns. For example, an elder is experiencing some form of emotional abuse, but they do not know whether they are overreacting. In that case, the social worker should listen to the patient’s concerns and advise them accordingly. They should use religious beliefs to help elder abuse victims. For example, suppose the victim is experiencing severe mental anguish. In that case, the social worker can use quotes from the bible if the victim is religious and Christian if they are religious to meet their spiritual needs. (Lachs & Karl, 2015) Respecting the elder abuse victims’ privacy is another spiritual need. For example, if an older adult experiences sexual abuse, they may want people to respect their privacy to deal with the trauma.
Elder Abuse Prevention Program
The Elder Abuse Prevention Program will meet the needs of elder abuse victims because it will use the empowerment theory to strive to change oppressive structures (Kirst-Ashman, 2007). The program will provide mandatory training to elders and professionals to help them deal with financial abuse and other forms of abuse. Financial abuse is one type of abuse that can go undetected, and the elders may not even realize that their caregiver is financially exploiting them. Through the training, the elder will be able to put their finance in order, which will allow them to meet their biological and healthcare needs. It will also provide resources for safe housing options. This provision will help elder abuse victims get a shelter free of abuse, which will offer security and social and psychological needs. The program will help rescue elder abuse victims from oppressive conditions before they become fatal for them and cater to their needs to ensure they live the last years of their lives comfortable and at peace.
Conclusion
Elder abuse is not uncommon, and a significant number of older adults experience some form of elder abuse yearly. Elder abuse includes sexual abuse, neglect, physical abuse, exploitation, financial abuse, and emotional abuse. The perpetrators are mainly family members and the staff that take care of them in assisted living facilities. Dependence on caregivers due to physical or cognitive impairments increase the likelihood of elder abuse. Elder abuse victims have several needs, including biological, psychological, social, and spiritual needs. The Elder Abuse Prevention Program will meet these needs by providing resources for safe housing and offering training relating to elder abuse.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Violation Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/elderabuse/fastfact.html
Kirst-Ashman, K. (2007). Human behavior, communities, organizations, and groups in the macro social environment: An empowerment approach. Cengage Learning.
Lachs, M. S., & Pillemer, K. A. (2015). Elder abuse. New England Journal of Medicine, 373(20), 1947-1956.
Ludvigsson, M., Wiklund, N., Swahnberg, K., & Simmons, J. (2022). Experiences of elder abuse: a qualitative study among victims in Sweden. BMC geriatrics, 22(1), 1-12.
Naleppa, M.J., Kovacs, P. J., & Conlon, A. (2018). Late Adulthood. Sage Publishers.
World Health Organization. (2021). Elder Abuse. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/elder-abuse
write