Validation of the indicators of abuse (IOA) screen.

It is important to enable social service agency practitioners to identify cases in which seniors are abused by their caregivers. The Indicators of Abuse (IOA) screening measure provides an abuse screening tool, based on abuse indicators, for use by practitioners. The study (N = 341) supports the validity of the 29-item set of indicators of the IOA, which discriminates abuse cases (84.4% of the time) from nonabuse cases (99.2% of the time). An abuse-indicator model evolving from the IOA suggests three main types of abuse signals: (a) caregiver personal problems/issues; (b) caregiver interpersonal problems/ issues; (c) care receiver social support shortages and past abuse.