Section 1- Introduction
Abuse of any kind on a person of any age has lifelong effects if not recognised at the time, and the person provided with counselling and support. ‘Elder Abuse’ is a manifestation of neglect and exploitation that causes purposeful or unintended damage to a person of classified ‘elderly and old’. About 1 in 20 old of older Australians will encounter some type of abuse from somebody they trust, who is regularly an individual from their own family and social lives, like a carer (The Aged Rights Advocacy Service Inc. 2016).
Section 2- Definitions and forms of abuse of older people
It is important to understand that while abuse usually makes us think of physically and emotionally, it can also refer to the emotional and mental
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Also approximately four times the same number of new incidences of abuse, neglect, and exploitation are additionally not reported to government bodies (Jeter, 2011).
Lillian Jeter, (Ohchr.org, 2016), additionally expresses that ‘there are no obligatory reporting requirements in any State or Territory all through Australia for elder abuse that is happening in the wider community’.
Section 4- Impacts of the issue
Elder abuse has a range of physical, psychological and financial consequences. It can result in pain, injury and even death, and is associated with higher levels of stress and depression and an increased risk of nursing home placement and hospitalisation (WHO,
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There is more emphasis on elder abuse occurring in aged care facilities than in the wider community, including having compulsory reporting of abuse of older people in aged care, which was introduced by the Australian Government in the Aged Care Act in 2007.
The act states that all ‘Registered nurses, enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing are required to report any suspected or actual abuse of an older person and must report to their employer or directly to the Police or the Department of Social Services’ (Sa.agedrights.asn.au, 2016).
One of the biggest supporters fighting against elder abuse is a not-for-profit community based organisation, called The Aged Rights Advocacy Service Inc. (ARAS), who ‘promote and protect the rights and wellbeing of older people, through the provision of information, education, support and representation’ (Sa.agedrights.asn.au, 2016)
Section 6- comparison between other
According to Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) vulnerable adults are much more likely to be abused or neglected compared to others. This is usually because they are less likely
Did you know that, according to the National Institute of Justice website, “There are few reliable national measures of elder abuse. This is partially because there is no uniform reporting system for elder abuse in the U.S.” ("Extent of Elder Abuse Victimization," 2015). It is sad that, in a country as developed as ours, we have no standard way of reporting elder abuse.
Elder abuse is causing emotional, physical or sexual harm, financial exploitation, or intentional or unintentional neglect to someone of greater age, whether it be from a family member or a stranger. Elder abuse has been a social issue for many years prior to any kind of legislation being made. Victims of elder abuse are often older adults ages 60 to 75 and the person abusing the elder is usually someone the victim knows, but could be a stranger in certain cases.
In the medical field, the workers are highly trained to be able to make a distinction between what is right and what is wrong. Elder abuse is becoming a serious issue in the health environment. As defined in the website, MedicineNet.com, elder abuse is: “the physical, sexual, or emotional abuse of an elderly person, usually one who is disabled or frail”. The older population consists of people over sixty-five years old. They are very fragile and sometimes they are forgotten or abused. The elderly can be victims of mistreatment in nursing homes, hospitals, or even in their own house. Nursing is the act of promoting health for others, and of providing care and security with the skills nurses have acquired. However, those who are nursing can also harm, or hurt people by advising them. Elder abuse can take many forms such as financial abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse.
In recent years, the shameful subject of elder abuse has gained more awareness among community members. In particular, the complexity of elder financial abuse often makes manipulative dealings by fraudsters difficult to identify and separate from actual permissive transactions made by older victims. The result is that these cases are very rarely prosecuted and many other undetected cases continue to fall far below the radar of society. The consequences of financial exploitation of older adults are reaching far beyond the immediate distress of financial depletion. Victims may also experience declines in physical and mental health as well as the risk of a decrease in life expectancy (Kemp & Mosqueda, 2005). The purpose of the following studies is to address the issue of financial exploitation of elder adults through the means of intervention, prosecution, prevention, and correlation between different forms of abuse.
Of nursing home staff interviewed in 2004, nearly 40% admitted to committing at least one psychologically abusive act toward a resident and 10% admitted to physically abusing a resident in the preceding year.[1] Not only are nursing home residents at risk of being abused by their caretakers but they are also at risk of being restrained, which may lead to a form of abuse. With five percent of the elderly population, or one to two million instances of elder abuse occurring yearly there is no doubt that elder abuse deserves serious consideration.[2]
Recent amendments to Queensland and Federal Legislation have not solved the problem of domestic violence in Queensland, let alone Australia. Domestic violence involves both physical and emotional behaviour with the patterns of this behaviour centred on power and control for the abuser. Legislation involved in protecting women and men in a domestic violence relationship has been amended to better protect victims. On the other hand, there is an escalating social and legal issues with domestic violence within Australia. Recommendations need to be done to amend Australia legislation, to add protection to victims of domestic violence. Domestic violence is growing rapidly within Queensland and Australia and needs further change to legalisation
Though elderly abuse occurs in many nursing homes, it is preventable. It is the nursing aide 's responsibility to provide quality and comfortable care, free from abuse. Many people are not aware that there are several other types of abuse in addition to physical abuse and many are not aware of the signs. If abuse should occur, anyone who suspects or witnesses the abuse is responsible for reporting it. Knowing the types of abuse, being aware of the signs, and reporting incidents are all ways to prevent abuse in nursing homes.
Elder Abuse is defined as any activity performed by an individual whereby these actions cause suffering of the older adult, intentionally or not (Touhy, Jett, Boscart & McCleary, 2012, p. 378). Unfortunately, the incidents of elder abuse continue to rise with the increasing number of people entering older adulthood. It is interesting to note that although elder abuse is highly under reported its occurrence increased three fold over a ten-year period (Friese & Collopy, 2010, p. 61). Certainly, it is a nurse’s duty to provide holistic care to his or her patients, which must include protection from abuse. Elder abuse can take on many forms including physical, emotional, sexual, neglect and financial. It is important to note that for the purposes of this paper, this writer will focus solely on financial abuse. When one considers the definition of financial abuse, it is deemed to be a misuse of another individual’s finances for ones own monetary gain. Thus, this type of abuse has become the most common and fastest growing form of all. As such, it is important for all nurses to understand financial abuse and who is at risk, how it presents, and what can be done to prevent it in order to protect the elderly.
With respect to older women, the issue is that there is a serious lack in differentiating between elder abuse and domestic violence. The discrepancy causes confusion as to what agency to report either volunteered or mandated cases of abuse (Kilbane & Spira, 2010). Furthermore, it is because of reporting errors that victims of abuse may not receive the services that are congruent to the type of abuse (Kilbane & Spira, 2010) indicating, “…a lack of centralized reporting of cases….” (Kilbane & Spira, 2010, p. 165).
Elder abuse in nursing home is a social problem that has had more and more attention in these recent years. “Elder abuse is the most recent domestic violence issue to gain the attention of the public and the medical community.” (Elder Abuse: A Review) According to the Senate Special Committee, about 5 “million older Americans are abused and neglected every year.” Abuse for the elderly can be considered a social problem due to the people who are in denial of it actually occurring, for example, the caregivers and nurses who do not consider themselves to be actually performing the abuse. It is a problem because the elders are put into these nursing homes by loved ones and ones who
When discussing abuse and neglect we often think of children first. That being said, children are not the only ones who will be abused and/or neglected. In fact, this happens to some elderly as well. While some elderly may be productive enough to care for themselves, others are not. The end result is a complete (or close to complete) dependency on someone else for their needs. In addition, just like with children, this dependency can lead to abuse and/or neglect.
Elderly abuse should be a crime that is made into a law. Once someone create the act of abusing an elderly, they should be taken into custody to be taken to jail. Elderly abuse is crucial and people should understand they are human beings. Financial abuse is one of the worst abuses in assisted living facilities. Everythin...
The number one priority of the Registered Nurse should be to provide holistic, patient-centred, safe and evidence based care to every patient. Patients who are admitted into hospital or seek healthcare services externally through clinics or the community usually expect to receive the safest and highest quality of care possible from that facility. Registered Nurses have a major responsibility to ensure that this is achieved. To help guide nurses and other healthcare workers in the right direction, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) created and enforced the “Registered Nurse Standards for Practice”. These standards aim to assist healthcare practitioners in providing high quality and safe care to every client. The standards also