Elder abuse: prevalence, consequences, and prevention strategies

Elder Abuse

Today, in a society that is rapidly aging because of the health science we now have available to us, an increasing number of people is also becoming vulnerable to elder abuse. The speaker, Laura Masqueda, there are many contributing factors to this sad phenomenon in society. One of the most important factors, in my view, is a simple unawareness in general society that anybody can be a victim of this crime, and anybody can be a perpetrator. The fact is that older people tend to be less important, to the general mind, than children or younger women who are victims of abuse. This, along with the fact that older people often suffer from disabling conditions that make reporting difficult or impossible, creates a type of bubble of blissful ignorance about the issue for society in general. If we were to call ourselves civilized, I believe that society should gather its collective powers to stop this gross violation of basic human rights.

The words that struck me most in the presentation are probably that "anyone can be a victim" and "anyone can be a perpetrator" of violence against the elderly. It is also a sad fact to me that there are so many possible types of abuse from the openly and physically violent, to the financial, to the more insidious types of abuse like neglect.

Masqueda mentions a number of contributing factors. One of the most important of these is the nature of getting older, which creates in older adults a feeling of powerlessness; many are reluctant to admit to being abused as a result of a sense of shame, for example. They may even be willing to take such mistreatment as a preference to being placed in a nursing home. Older adults may be unable to report abuse as a result of a debilitating mental condition or the removal of freedom and contact by those who are guilty of this crime.

On the part of society in general, the main challenge is ignorance. The common perception is, for example, that elder abuse generally occurs in nursing homes. The speaker, however, quoted statistitics that demonstrated the vast majority of reported cases taking place in homes. The vast number of unreported cases also keeps the ignorance about this problem alive and well.

Connected to these problems are other contributing factors such as the increased vulnerability of the elderly, their greater dependence, their susceptibility to dementia, a lack of basic awareness of the abuse, and the tendency to disbelieve reports about elder persons being abused. The speaker also suggests that issues such as mental illness, our basic desensitization to violence, a sense of entitlement, a propensity for power and control, and ageism could be contributing factors to the abuse of elder persons by individuals.

When taking a wider perspective of the issue, however, my view is that the most important contributing factor is both ignorance and a tendency to ignore the suffering caused by this crime. As an individual, I like to tell myself that I am a caring person, who would never abuse another living thing. However, the video shocked me, because I became aware of just how unaware I am of such abuse occurring in society.