The Types of abuse occur when acts are perpetrated as followed. Physical abuse occurs and is typically characterized by when any act of violence or pain is inflicted on the victim. The failure to provide basic necessities are not provided to the elderly victim; including lack of food, lack of shelter, lack of clothing, lack of medical care, and failing to provide for hygienic needs is considered to be neglect of the elderly person in need of care. Similar to neglect, abandonment spurs from the desertion of an elderly person by one who is the primary custodian or caretaker of the elderly victim. Sexual abuse involving any nonconsensual sexual acts against the elderly is also common in domestic and institutional settings. Psychological abuse is any mental harm to the elder through insults, threats, and other demeaning actions or words. Financial abuse generally occurs when the material goods of an elder are taken or withheld from the elderly person. Although there are distinct categories for abuse, an elderly victim may experience more than one or several types of this abuse. Elder abuse cases tend to be complex with many factors and dimensions to the abuse. The need for improving the general understanding of elder abuse cases can help researchers and law enforcement to both develop and evaluate theory as to provide explanations for abuse. Research has succeeded as to bring attention to some of the characteristics which are common to the different types of elderly abuse. Contrary to the common understanding of physical abuse, many elderly victims of physical abuse are in fair health and high functioning. Many studies try to refer to mental and physical impairments in an elderly person as a risk for abuse. However, the t... ... middle of paper ... ...rson is cut off from communication with others, the effects on the mind can be damaging as well as the fact that their abuse is likely to continue to go unnoticed if isolated. The perpetrators of elderly abuse typically care for the victim, whether it be a family member or a caregiver from a nursing or assisted care facility. However, data from The National Elder Abuse Incidence Study 1998 characterized the perpetrators as being family members in “nine out of ten (89.7 percent) substantiated incidents of domestic elder abuse and neglect” (The Administration for Children and Families & The Administration on Aging, 1998). The report continues by stating that “Adult children of elder abuse victims were the most likely perpetrators of substantiated maltreatment (47.3 percent)” (The Administration for Children and Families & The Administration on Aging, 1998).
Some of these cases of abuse are done in elderly homes by family members. In the first section of the article, the authors discuss the definition of elder abuse. The authors began with the most common types of elder abuse, which are physical and neglect. Elder abuse is the intentional use of physical force that results in acute or chronic illness, bodily injury, physical pain, functional impairment, distress, or death (Choi NG & Mayer J. In summary, the rhetorical analysis essay discusses how elder abuse and neglect affect the victims physically, emotionally, and professionally.
Assisted Living Facilities abuse is a frequently occurring problem in our society (Hamilton). There are diverse categories of abuse that transpire in Assisted Living Facilities which are physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, abandonment, and financial abuse. Samples of physical abuse would be hitting or beating the elders with an object or their hand, force feeding them or pulling their hands. Sexual abuse is the Assisted Living Facility employees having sexual acts with non-consenting patients. Emotional abuse is the employees saying things verbally to torment the patient. Neglect would be the employee does not take care of the patients such as providing hygiene. Abandonment occurs when leaving patients to fend for themselves. Financial abuse is when the patient’s family pays for the services that were not taken care of. “Elder abuse is fast becoming one of the uppermost law enforcement tasks of the next century, “said Paul Hodge who investigates crime against the elderly (Gonzalez). Since abuse occurs throughout assisted living facilities, state and federal governments should establish a type of punishment such as sending for employees to prison, ways to prevent abusing elderly’s is by inspecting employees ' criminal records, qualified staff, reporting injuries, having surveillance of the areas that do not affect patients privacy, promoting continuous family visits, and shortage of staffing.
Currently, there are many children whom suffer from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in their family. Emotional abuse is the lack of interest or affection parents have towards their children. As a result of emotional abuse, children are left feeling worthless and unloved. Physical abuse refers to attacking children resulting visible bodily injuries from either being burned, pushed, punched, slapped, or whipped. Sometimes physical abuse can be extremely severe that children have broken bones, fractures, or hemorrhaging. Sexual abuse occurs when a person forces, tricks, or threatens children to have sexual contact. These acts of child abuse could prevent children from living a normal adulthood. In order to deal with such a traumatic childhood, adults abused as children should rid themselves of such burdensome, painful memories.
I will be describing the first three. Emotional Abuse (also known as: Verbal abuse, mental abuse, and psychological cruelty) includes acts or the failures to act by parents or caretakers that have caused or could cause serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional or mental disorders. This can include parents and/or caretakers using extreme or bizarre forms of punishment, such as the child being confined in a closet or dark room, being tied to a chair for long periods of time, or threatening or terrorizing a young child. Less severe acts, but no less damaging, are overly negative criticism or rejecting treatment, using degrading terms to describe the child, constant victimizing or blaming the child for situations. Neglect (the failure to provide for the child?s basic needs) can be physical, educational, or emotional.
Physical abuse is abuse that causes injury from beating, punching, kicking, etc. Sexual abuse is the mistreatment of a child by molestation, rape, prostitution. Neglect is the failure to take care of a child's needs like food, shelter, education, and love (Jackson and Primavera). While these three types may be different in the form of abuse, they all have very similar negative effects to the child’s well
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).
Elders who are abused have a 300% higher risk of death when compared to those who had not been abused. The impact is felt even by those seniors who were moderately abused. Research has also demonstrated that seniors who are abused suffer from increased levels of psychological distress and have decreased levels of confidence and self-sufficiency as compared to those not abused (Comijs, Penninx, Knipscheer, & van Tilburg, 1999). Additionally, victims also have a higher incidence of health related problems to include: bone and joint disorders, digestive problems, depression, anxiety, mental health problems, chronic pain, high blood pressure, and heart problems (Coker, Davis, Arias, Desai, Sanderson, Brandt, 2002).
According to Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services, there are three things that elder abuse can be classified as. It can be classified as abuse, neglect, or likelihood of serious physical harm. While all of these classifications sounds quite similar, there are some subtle differences. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services defines abuse as " the infliction of physical, sexual, or emotional injury or harm including financial exploitation by any person, firm, or corporation" ("Protective Services For Adults," n.d., para. 4). Elder neglect is "the failure to provide services to an eligible adult by any person, firm, or corporation with a legal or contractual duty to do so, when such failure presents either an imminent danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the client or a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm would result"("Protective Services For Adults," n.d., para. 4). Abuse, neglect, as well as likelihood of serious physical harm are all reportable by law. ("Protective Services For Adults," n.d).
Sengstock, M. C., & Hwalek, M. (1986). Domestic abuse of the elderly: Which cases involve the police? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1(3), 335-349. doi:10.1177/088626086001003006
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]
There are currently two important pieces of legislation that address elder abuse issues. The Older Americans Act must submit to a reauthorization process every five years. Throughout the years there have been many adaptations to the act. Presently, there are four sections that apply to elder abuse primarily in the form of research processes, grant eligibili...
The Multidimensional Elder Abuse Questionnaire developed by Almogue et al. (2010) is a 28-item questionnaire that was initially developed in Israel to measure the knowledge of medical and nursing staff toward elder abuse. However, the questionnaire has been retranslated to the
The type of abuse that elderly people get subjected to is not only physical, it may also be emotional. Obviously, abuse may take on many different forms and may include: financial abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. This abuse is not limited to certain circumstances; it can happen in poor, middle-class or upper income households. This includes a variety of demographics and ethnicities (Meadows, 2010). Anyone may potentially cause abuse and/or neglect.
Elder sexual abuse is defined as an action against an elder that is unwanted and sexual in origin. It usually involves those older than 60 years of age. (Traxler, (2017). An elder of sexual violence often experiences severe emotional and physical trauma. Studies report that elder sexual abuse victims tend to be of advanced age, frail, and dependent on others for care. Many elders after a sexual assault will feel extreme fear, shame, and guilt; therefore, they will not report the crime. Many elders are either isolated from their families, they are
When the topic of abuse comes up, many different forms of abuse pop into individuals heads. Whether its Physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse or even drug abuse, the list just keeps going. Now take all those different forms abuse and imagine them happening in a family. A father physically abusing his children, a mother verbally berating her daughter about her body image, a child growing up in fear. According to the research by David Wolfe in the Journal of Consulting and clinical Psychology, that the number of children that have suffered a physical injury due to physical abuse is between 1.4 and 1.9 million annually. With such a high number of physical abuse happening to children, one can imagine how high the number of all the