Department of Community Medicine and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, 3rd floor, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 751019, India.
Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
BMC Geriatr. 2022 Apr 11;22(1):317. doi: 10.1186/s12877-022-02986-9.
The prevalence of elder abuse in various parts of the world has been reported between 2.2 and 90.4%. According to some studies conducted in India, elder abuse prevalence ranges between 9.6 to 61.7%. Yet, elder abuse is an underreported issue. Most available evidence shows the involvement of close family members and caregivers in the abuse of older adults. Several factors associated with various forms of elder abuse need to be studied further. This study has attempted to capture the prevalence, pattern and associated factors of elder abuse in urban slums.
This study was a cross-sectional community-based study conducted between August 2019 to August 2020 in an urban field practice area of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar. It covers four wards of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, served by the Urban Primary Health Centre, IRC Village, Nayapalli. A total of 360 participants aged 60 years and above were included in this study. They were interviewed using various semi-structured interview schedules. Validated study tools such as Activities of Daily Living (ADL- Barthel Index), Hindi Mental Scale Examination (HMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and Vulnerability to Abuse Screening Scale (VASS) were also used to assess various factors.
Approximately one in five (19.4%) older adults reported some form of abuse. The types of elder abuse reported were physical abuse in 12 (3.3%), verbal abuse in 25 (6.9%), emotional abuse in 40 (11.1%), and financial abuse in 15 (4.2%) older adult participants. The sons and daughters-in-law of the older adult participants were the main perpetrators of abuse reported. Depression and past history of abuse were found significantly associated with any type of abuse.
The prevalence of elder abuse in this study was considerably high, with 70 (19.4%) out of the 360 participants reporting some form of abuse. Emotional abuse was the most reported, and physical abuse was the least reported type. The most common perpetrators were those on whom the older adults depended, like their sons and daughters-in-law.
世界不同地区的虐待老年人的发生率报告在 2.2 至 90.4%之间。根据印度的一些研究，虐待老年人的发生率在 9.6 至 61.7%之间。然而，虐待老年人的问题报告不足。大多数现有证据表明，亲密的家庭成员和护理人员参与了虐待老年人的行为。需要进一步研究与各种形式的虐待老年人相关的几个因素。本研究试图捕捉城市贫民窟中虐待老年人的流行率、模式和相关因素。
这是一项横断面社区研究，于 2019 年 8 月至 2020 年 8 月在印度全印医学科学院布巴内斯瓦尔的一个城市实地实践区进行。它涵盖了布巴内斯瓦尔市政公司的四个病房，由 IRC 村的城市初级保健中心提供服务。共有 360 名 60 岁及以上的参与者被纳入本研究。他们使用各种半结构化访谈表进行访谈。还使用了经过验证的研究工具，如日常生活活动（ADL-巴塞尔指数）、印度语心理量表检查（HMSE）、老年抑郁量表（GDS）和虐待易感性筛查量表（VASS）来评估各种因素。
大约五分之一（19.4%）的老年人报告了某种形式的虐待。报告的虐待类型有：12 名（3.3%）老年人遭受身体虐待，25 名（6.9%）老年人遭受言语虐待，40 名（11.1%）老年人遭受情感虐待，15 名（4.2%）老年人遭受经济虐待。老年人的儿子和儿媳是报告的虐待的主要施害者。抑郁和虐待史与任何类型的虐待都有显著关联。
本研究中虐待老年人的发生率相当高，360 名参与者中有 70 名（19.4%）报告了某种形式的虐待。情感虐待是最常见的类型，而身体虐待是最不常见的类型。最常见的施害者是老年人所依赖的人，如他们的儿子和儿媳。
