Since improving the standardization and efficiency of adult protective services (APS) investigations is a top priority in APS practice, this study used data from the Elder Abuse Decision Support System (EADSS) to develop short-form measures of four types of elder abuse: financial, emotional/psychological, physical, and neglect.
The EADSS data set contains 948 elder abuse cases (age 60+) with yes/no abuse substantiation decisions for each abuse type following a 30-day investigation. Item sensitivity/specificity analyses were conducted on long-form items with the substantiation decision for each abuse type as the criterion. Validity was further tested using receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, correlation with long forms and internal consistency. The four resulting short-form measures, which contain 36 of the 82 original items, have validity similar to the original long forms. These short forms can be used to standardize and increase the efficiency of APS investigations, and may also offer researchers new options for brief elder abuse assessments. (Publisher abstract modified)