ELDER ABUSE - AN AUSTRALIAN CASE SERIES

Objective: To report a series of older patients who had been physically abused or neglected and to describe their disabilities and social situation, the abuser, interventions offered and outcomes. Design: A retrospective case series. Patients were included if they met the requirements of a predetermined definition of physical abuse or neglect. Setting: An area-based geriatric and rehabilitation service attached to a district hospital. Patients: Fifteen men and women aged over 65 who met the requirements of our definition of abuse and who were referred to the service over a 12-month period. For each patient an abuser was identified. Results: Risk factors for elder abuse were a high degree of dependency of the elderly person resulting from cognitive or physical impairment; psychopathology in the abuser or stress on the carer. Intervention was effective for a majority of the patients. Conclusions: The findings are similar to those of overseas studies. Awareness of the problem and early intervention with counselling, provision of appropriate services and accommodation are likely to be successful in limiting the impact of elder abuse.