ELDER ABUSE IN PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA IN NORTHERN IRELAND: PREVALENCE AND PREDICTORS IN CASES REFERRED TO A PSYCHIATRY OF OLD AGE SERVICE
✍ Scribed by S. A. COMPTON; PETER FLANAGAN; W. GREGG
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 101 KB
- Volume
- 12
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-6230
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Objective. To establish the prevalence of elder abuse in community-dwelling patients with dementia and to test the hypothesis that there is no dierence in carer and patient characteristics between the abused and non-abused populations.
Design. A cohort of consecutive referrals was formed and subdivided by the presence or absence of abuse and the two groups compared.
Setting. A rural psychiatry of old age service in N. Ireland. Subjects. Each case had been newly referred, was 65 years old or over, lived at home, had an identi®able carer and met DSMIII-R criteria for a diagnosis of dementia. There were 49 such cases; 38 carers agreed to be interviewed.
Main outcome measures. The General Health Questionnaire 28, the Gilleard Pre-Morbid Relationship Rating Scale and Gilleard's Problem Checklist were administered to the carer and the information/orientation sub scale of the Clifton Assessment Procedure for the Elderly used to measure cognitive impairment in the patient.
Results. Abuse was elicited in 14 (37%) cases; four (10.5%) of physical and 13 (34%) of verbal abuse. No cases of abuse by neglect were detected. A poor premorbid relationship, verbal or physical abuse by the dependant, problem behaviours in the dependant, the carer's level of anxiety and a perception of not receiving help were signi®cantly associated with abuse. Alcohol consumption of the carer, physical dependence, severity of cognitive impairment or ®nancial or social circumstances were not associated with elder abuse.
Conclusions. Elder abuse is associated with aspects of the patient/carer relationship and should be regarded as a signi®cant problem in patients with dementia referred to an old age service.