Elder Abuse: How To Detect It And What You Can Do To Prevent It From Happening

Ageing is a natural process that comes with its own set of opportunities and challenges. We all strive to lengthen our lives and do all that is necessary to stay healthy longer. However, the increase in longevity which seems like a blessing has turned out to be a curse for elderly people, especially in societies where the idea of living in a joint family is declining steadily.

This further pushes senior citizens towards a life that is lonely, friendless, and full of neglect and pushes them far away from two essential things- a positive attitude and well-being in the advancing years of their lives.

Abuse is not restricted to a person's age, race, sex, religion, or ethnic or cultural background. It can happen to anyone and anywhere. It can be a family member's house, their own home, a nursing home or an assisted living facility. The mistreatment can be done by anyone they know such as family members, friends or even by caregivers, health care providers or strangers.

According to a report published by the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011-2036, there are nearly 138 million elderly persons in India in 2021 (67 million males and 71 million females) and is further expected to increase by around 56 million elderly persons in 2031.

What Is Elder Abuse?

An older adult is an individual who is 60 or older.

Elder Abuse is also known as the abuse of older people and is either a single or repeated intentional act or lack of proper action that can create emotional, physical, or sexual harm, financial exploitation, and neglect of welfare on an older adult in any relationship where there is an expectation of trust or at the hands of a caregiver. It causes serious loss of dignity, respect and distress or risk of harm to elderly people.

According to CDC (Centres For Disease Control And Protection), is a leading science-based, data-driven, service organization in the US that protects the public's health, elder abuse can be classified into five categories.

1. Physical Abuse- This happens when someone intentionally uses physical force on an elderly person, which includes acts of hitting, pushing, slapping, kicking or burning and the latter has to go through experiences like injury, pain, illness, distress, functional impairment or even death in some cases.

2. Psychological Or Emotional Abuse- This is referred to abuse that an elderly experiences due to verbal and non-verbal behaviours by someone which leads to mental pain, fear, anguish, or distress in them. The mistreatment can include yelling, ridiculing, humiliation, ignoring an elderly person, habitual blaming, isolating (can be geographic or interpersonal) them from friends or barring them from engaging in activities, menacing or terrorizing them.

3. Sexual Abuse- It refers to the abuse inflicted on an older adult that is sexual in nature and can involve forced or unwanted sexual interaction of any kind such as non-contact acts like pornographic material, forcing the aged person to undress or making them watch sex acts) or It can be sexual harassment that can include unwanted sexual contact or penetration.

4. Elder Neglect- This can be intentional or unintentional. It refers to an action when an individual who is trusted by an older adult fails to provide or meet the basic needs of the elderly. The needs can include food, clothing, water, shelter, hygiene, and essential medical care. Numerous factors are associated with it such as denial or ignorance.

5. Financial Abuse- Whenever an elder's money, assets, benefits, belongings or property is used by someone in a is an illegal, unauthorized, or improper manner, which will benefit anyone other than the older adult, then it is referred to as financial abuse. The behaviour or mistreatment can include stealing cash, misusing household goods, bank accounts or credit cards, forging the signature of an elder on personal checks or elsewhere and involving in identity theft.

According to NCBI, there are two other forms of elder abuse as well:

6. Healthcare Abuse And Fraud- This can be referred to as unethical practices by doctors, nurses, professional care providers or any hospital personnel. The mistreatment can include charging for healthcare but not providing it, overcharging or double billing, overmedicating or undermedicating, medicaid fraud, prescribing remedies or certain drugs for illnesses or certain medical conditions that are fraudulent in nature and receiving bribes for referrals to other providers or for recommending certain drugs.

7. Self-neglect- This is referred to behaviour when an elderly person is unable to perform essential self-care which can arise due to mental or physical impairment or diminished capacity. Due to this, they can suffer from dehydration, lack of personal hygiene, malnourishment, become underweight, staying in dirty and unsanitary conditions, and not being able to properly manage their medications. Further, in a few cases, aged people are hesitant to ask for help due to fear, that they will lose their freedom, and some also live in denial about seeking assistance.

How You Can Save An Elderly Person From Abuse Or Prevent It From Happening

1. Educate yourself to recognize the factors responsible for elder abuse and make elderly people understand how to spot abuse.
2. Communicate but first listen to them
3. Encourage elderly people to get help
4. Get in touch with adult protective services, police and government agencies
5. Keep the elder abuse hotlines handy
6. Provide support and help to caregivers overburdened with responsibilities
7. Take help of social media to create awareness about elderly abuse
8. Look for cost-effective solutions that can help them in the advanced stages
9. Make elderly people understand the difference between the normal ageing process and elder abuse.
10. Help, encourage and assist aged people with a history of substance abuse by taking them to rehabilitation centres.

In 2021, the Central government launched a national toll-free helpline--14567 for senior citizens in India called the Elderline. It was set up by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJ&E) in collaboration with National Institute of Social Defence (NISD) and participating State/UT Governments.

The aim of Elderline is to provide free information, guidance, emotional support and field intervention in cases of abuse, rescues and reunion of homeless elderly driven by values of consistency, care, empathy and encouragement.