Abuse of patients with dementia by carers — out of sight but not out of mind

✍ Scribed by Colm Cooney; Robert Howard

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 617 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/gps.930100903

✦ Synopsis

Elderly people with dementia living with a carer are at significantly higher risk of abuse than the general population over 65. This review looks at the limitations of the research to date and discusses risk factors in both carers and patients that predispose them to abuse. Management strategies are discussed with reference to the growing research base.

KEY womsAementia; elder abuse; carer; review The abuse of elderly people in a domestic setting is largely a hidden issue. Although serious attempts to highlight abuse of elderly people began almost a century ago with Beatrice Webb's plea for the formation of a society to fight the problem , it was not until the 1970s, however, that the first reference to elder abuse appeared in the UK literature . Politically incorrect and emotive terms such as 'granny bashing' and 'granny battering' were used and had their precedent in Erin Pizzey's (1974) description of spouse abuse as the 'battered wife'. Until recently the issue has received far greater attention in the US than in the UK, with a substantial body of completed research, a journal devoted to the subject and, since 1988, the passing of legislation in all 50 states addressing elder abuse and neglect, with the implementation of statewide reporting systems (American Public Welfare Association/NASUA, 1986). However, there is a consensus that this legislation has been ineffective and it is probable that up to 80% of cases of abuse go unreported (US Congress, 1985).