If you’ve ever doubted the consequences of senior abuse in our society, you should read this. A recent study that focused on the abuse of senior citizens revealed that when a victim lives alone with their abuser, the severity of the mistreatment is usually around four times worse than if they did not live with their abuser.
The study, which was conducted by the University of Toronto and Cornell University, had some information about who was most likely to be abused, by whom they were being abused by, and what things could be done to prevent it from happening. For example, it was found that people aged 60 to 74 experienced the worst kind of abuse. This does challenge the mindset that the older you are, the more vulnerable you become, but it also illuminates the fact that elder abuse is perhaps more prevalent than first thought. They also discovered that if someone had been abused at least once in the last ten years, there was a 62 percent chance that they were still being abused. About 11 percent reported having ten or more instances of abuse in the last year. When other family members lived in the house, particularly those that were not involved in abuse of any sort, the odds of keeping everyone safe went up dramatically. This information came from seniors living in a community setting, and it was ensured that all participants in the study were not suffering from dementia of any sort in order to give their information more reliability.
Elder abuse is a serious thing. It can lead to awful consequences, and it can tear families apart. The loving relationships that we have spent years forming can be erased permanently as a result. Even worse, the love and trust that we have placed in each other is betrayed. As the number of elderly people in the United States is set to expand rapidly, having a handle on elder abuse now, before the problem can grow out of control, is a must. Part of every family member’s duty for their older loved ones should be to know the signs of abuse so that it can be ended before their loved one is permanently hurt, either physically or emotionally.
Abuse of any type is wrong. Our elderly family members do not deserve to be mistreated or live in fear of any sort. Having a changing lifestyle, with new and often complicated physical needs, is difficult enough. Having the added stress of someone abusing you is not only unfair to them, it dehumanizes them simply because they are in a position of vulnerability. Knowing what elder abuse is, and then how to take steps to prevent it, will go a long way toward protecting the people that we love. There are many options available to us, but one of the easiest is to create a system of checks and balances by having many people involved in the care process. This can include family members, in-home care professionals, doctors, attorneys, and more.
Leave a Reply