NCJ Number
163840
Editor(s)
L A Baumhover,
S C Beall
Date Published
1996
Length
285 pages
Annotation
The culmination of over a decade of research, education, and training in elder mistreatment, this book provides a comprehensive set of guidelines for health care personnel in assessing whether elder abuse and neglect has occurred and then suggests intervention protocols.
Abstract
Part I contains three chapters on understanding elder abuse. The first chapter reviews the primary causes of elder abuse and some possible explanations as to why such mistreatment continues to occur, followed by a chapter that outlines profiles of victims, abusers, and the social and cultural contexts in which abuse occurs. The third chapter focuses on the identification of abuse within the context of a clinical interview and physical examination. Part II contains four chapters on the case-finding process. Topics covered include the assessment of physical and sexual abuse in health care settings, the assessment of neglect and nonphysical abuse, and the role of risk factors in health care and adult protective services. Part II contains three chapters on intervention. The importance of the documentation that was begun during the initial assessment is emphasized in one chapter, followed by the description of a promising model for intervention within hospitals through a multidisciplinary team. Psychological therapy is described in another chapter. Part IV addresses victim follow-up, abuse in institutions, and the outlook for elder abuse. For individual chapters, see NCJ-163841- 53. Chapter references and a subject index