Elder abuse in Costa Rica

This paper describes how the problem of domestic elder abuse in Costa Rica is being perceived and acted upon by direct service providers and other professionals in the field of aging. Costa Rica is a small Central American democracy in which the family is the central institution and the sense of filial obligation is strong. In this cultural context elder abuse often takes the form of overprotection by family members who deprive elders of their autonomy. Although they suffer from this loss, elders frequently do not define it as abuse, making it difficult for professionals to intervene. A more serious concern was abandonment of elders by families (with or without intent to harm) since there are few facilities or resources to accommodate such elders. Overall we found a mixture, sometimes in the same person, of resignation in the face of a phenomenon that may come inevitably with modernization and committed activism. We illustrate the latter by describing the efforts of two Costa Rican organizations to prevent elder abuse.