University North, University Centre Varaždin, Varaždin, Croatia.
University Hospital Dubrava, Zagreb, Croatia.
Int J Older People Nurs. 2022 Nov;17(6):e12484. doi: 10.1111/opn.12484. Epub 2022 Jun 17.
Abuse and neglect of older people represent a salient public health issue that remains understudied in the current literature. However, most studies have focused on estimating the prevalence of mistreatment of older people, while litter priority has been put on healthcare professionals and their role in addressing this problem.
The aim of this paper was to determine nurses' perceptions of neglect and abuse of older persons within health facilities in Croatia.
A cross-sectional survey with convenience sampling approach was conducted on 632 nursing professionals between 26 March and 26 April 2020. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. A questionnaire from Drennan et al. (NCPOP, University College Dublin, Dublin, 2012), previously adapted by Neuberg et al. (Arch Ind Hyg Toxicol, 68, 2017, 190), was used as a survey instrument. Descriptive and inferential statistics has been used, as well as multivariable methods (reliability analysis). Significance was set at p < .05 (two-tailed).
Abuse/neglect of older people was observed by 13.8% to 57.4% of nursing professionals, depending on the incident type. The most prevalent incidents observed were ignoring the call of an older person (57.4%), shouting at an older person in anger (41.1%) and force-feeding an older person (34.5%), while the least prevalent incidents observed were denial of food or some privileges as a form of punishment (13.8%). Male nursing professionals reported observing various forms of abuse significantly more often than their female counterparts (p = .038), without statistically significant age-related differences. Furthermore, mistreatment of older people was much more frequently observed in nursing homes (p = .013), with suboptimal the ratio of caregivers and care recipients, as well as by nursing professionals who work in shifts (p = .012). Reliability analysis demonstrated a satisfactory level of internal consistency for the used questionnaire.
This study reinforces neglect and abuse of older people as a growing public health problem and puts the emphasis on its perception; hence, there is a need for systematic and continuous training of nursing professionals on preventing, identifying and responding to such mistreatment, with the aim of enhancing the quality of life in this vulnerable group.
This study contributes to the growing body of research on the quality of evidence-based nursing care of older people, most notably from providers' perspective - with direct implications for policy, practice, research and training.
老年人的虐待和忽视是一个突出的公共卫生问题，但在当前文献中研究不足。然而，大多数研究都集中在估计虐待老年人的普遍性上，而对医疗保健专业人员及其在解决这一问题中的作用则重视不够。
本文旨在确定克罗地亚卫生保健机构中护士对老年人忽视和虐待的看法。
2020 年 3 月 26 日至 4 月 26 日，采用便利抽样法对 632 名护理专业人员进行横断面调查。参与是自愿和匿名的。调查问卷来自都柏林大学学院的 Drennan 等人（NCPOP，2012 年），之前由 Neuberg 等人（Arch Ind Hyg Toxicol，68，2017 年，190 年）改编。使用描述性和推论统计以及多变量方法（可靠性分析）。显著性水平设定为 p < .05（双侧）。
13.8%至 57.4%的护理专业人员观察到老年人受到虐待/忽视，具体取决于事件类型。观察到的最常见事件是忽视老年人的呼叫（57.4%）、愤怒地对老年人大喊大叫（41.1%）和强迫喂食老年人（34.5%），而观察到的最不常见事件是拒绝给老年人食物或某些特权作为一种惩罚形式（13.8%）。男护士报告观察到各种形式的虐待的频率明显高于女护士（p = .038），但与年龄无关。此外，在养老院中更频繁地观察到虐待老年人的情况（p = .013），护理人员与护理对象的比例不理想，以及轮班工作的护理人员（p = .012）。可靠性分析表明，用于调查问卷的内部一致性具有令人满意的水平。
这项研究强调了老年人的虐待和忽视是一个日益严重的公共卫生问题，并强调了对其的认识；因此，需要对护理专业人员进行系统和持续的培训，以预防、识别和应对这种虐待，目的是提高这个弱势群体的生活质量。
这项研究为越来越多的关于老年人循证护理质量的研究做出了贡献，特别是从提供者的角度——对政策、实践、研究和培训具有直接意义。
