Alon Sara, Tuma Niva, Band-Winterstein Tova, Goldblatt Hadass
1 Sara Alon, PhD, School of Social Work, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
2 Niva Tuma, RN, PhD, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel.
J Am Psychiatr Nurses Assoc. 2018 Jan/Feb;24(1):53-61. doi: 10.1177/1078390317712598. Epub 2017 Jun 1.
The sexual abuse phenomenon is considered taboo. It has been discussed, to date, mainly in relation to children and young women, with insufficient attention to sexual abuse in a late-life context.
The aim of this survey was to explore professionals' awareness of elder sexual abuse (ESA).
The survey was conducted among 161 Jewish and Arab professionals from health care and social services, who worked with older adults in Israel.
Of the entire sample, 70 professionals (only 43%) reported encountering at least one to three cases of ESA. A total of 98% of the victims were women, and the primary offender was the spouse (75%). In most cases (70%), the victim reported the abuse, which was mainly sexual assault (64%). All participants (100%) noted taking action.
This exploratory survey indicates that professionals are partially aware of the existence of and the need to address the ESA phenomenon.
性虐待现象被视为禁忌。迄今为止，主要是在儿童和年轻女性的背景下进行讨论，对晚年性虐待的关注不足。
本次调查的目的是探讨专业人员对老年性虐待（ESA）的认识。
该调查在以色列161名来自医疗保健和社会服务领域、与老年人打交道的犹太和阿拉伯专业人员中进行。
在整个样本中，70名专业人员（仅占43%）报告称至少遇到过一至三例老年性虐待案件。共有98%的受害者为女性，主要犯罪者是配偶（75%）。在大多数情况下（70%），受害者报告了虐待行为，主要是性侵犯（64%）。所有参与者（100%）都表示采取了行动。
这项探索性调查表明，专业人员对老年性虐待现象的存在及应对需求有一定认识。
