Abstract

Dr. Junaid Nabi* and Manjunadh Muralleedharan

ABSTRACT

Background: Elder abuse is associated with distress and increased mortality in older people and caregiver psychological morbidity. The Department of Health's guidance defined abuse as ?a violation of an individual's human and civil rights by another person or persons‘. The term ?elder abuse and neglect? has been defined to include any act of commission or omission that results in harm or threatened harm to the health and welfare of an older adult. Most authorities, however, prefer the term ?elder mistreatment.? Its various forms include physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; abandonment; exploitation; and neglect. Mistreatment of the elderly has only recently been addressed in the medical literature. Despite surveys documenting physician exposure to increasing numbers of victims, the medical profession has been slow to recognize the problem. Methods: Hundred successive patientswith history of abuse who fulfilled inclusion and exclusion criteria were taken up for the study and administered the Elder Assessment Instrument(EAI) Conflict Tactics Scale to find out severity of abuse. Each patient was informed about the purpose of interview; his/her consent was obtained and strict confidentiality was ensured. Results: The total sample size of 100 patients, 62 patients had verbal aggression type of abuse followed by financial mismanagement with 21 and least were with history of neglect accounting for 6% patients. Discussion: The findings of our study are in concordance with a study with the findings of prevalence of verbal aggression was the highest (3.2%), followed by financial mistreatment (1.4%), and physical aggression (1.2%). The prevalence of neglect was lowest (0.2%).