Violence Against the Elderly: a cross-cultural perspective

1873 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: elder abuse thesis

According to the Ontario Provincial Police, elder abuse is defined as “Any action or inaction by any person which causes harm or threatens to cause harm to an older adult”. As of 2004, the General Social Survey (GSS) showed that seniors were three times less likely than non-seniors to experience victimization in the 12 months preceding the survey and 10% of seniors experienced at least one victimization in the 12 months preceding the survey. This shows that violence against the elderly has always been present in any society and its rate is now just starting to increase. It is a topic that has been usually kept in the dark and it is only now that citizens from around the world are beginning to realize that it is in fact a form of family violence and that it is not acceptable under any circumstances. The fact that this happens is because senior citizens become defenseless and they become dependent on someone, usually their family members.

Rates of elder abuse are not what they were 10 years ago; they have increased, and the rates at which these abuses occur are from 2 % to 10 %. (Lachs, Mark S., & Karl Pillemer. 2004. "Elder Abuse, “The Lancet, Vol. 364: 1192-1263.). Violence against seniors varies from culture to culture and though it happens everywhere in the world, regardless of their background, not many people knew it was happening, especially when the victims themselves keep quiet due to fear. Elderly abuse somewhat differs within cultures but nonetheless it is still unacceptable. According to the Canadian Centre for Justice, the most common form of abuse against the elderly population in Canada is emotional abuse, which is followed by financial abuse (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 2001b). Yet, other docum...

... middle of paper ...

...Family Violence laws which include abuse within the family, Criminal law which includes physical or sexual abuse, Adult Protection laws which helps seniors with their needs and Adult Guardianship laws which sees an elder as not being able to take care of themselves. So, these different laws apply to different circumstances.

Our society is just starting to understand what elder abuse is and how it affects us. Violence against the elderly takes place in many places. The abuse rate is constantly growing and so the number of elders in the world. There are a lot of laws and help that have been formed for the safety of the vulnerable. Abused elders from around the world have different perceptions of what abuse is but no matter what their culture is, the first step would be to encourage elders to speak out and know their rights and sensitize people about the issue.

Show More
Related

  • Elder Abuse Rhetorical Analysis

    1727 Words  | 4 Pages

    This purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of elder abuse and neglect on victims. This essay will discuss how elder abuse and neglect affect the victims physically, emotionally, and neglect. The use of logos, pathos, and ethos will also be used in the essay. According to Dong, 2017 2 million elders experience elder abuse and neglect each year some twice or more a year, and many cases are not reported. Many confrontations of elder abuse and neglect are done in nursing homes. Some of these cases of abuse are done in these elders homes by family members.

    Read More

  • Domestic Violence in Canada

    1655 Words  | 4 Pages

    Violence has become prevalent within society; it is something the western world has learned to accept. With every minute that passes Canadians come face to face with certain acts of violence they may not have previously encountered (citation). Although, violence is not a subject that one can escape, women and children have unfortunately become the prime victims of violent acts. The media glorifies violence in other countries around the world it fails to address the presence of violence within Canada. Although violence is usually associated with gangs and guns, Canada experiences more violence related to bullying, sexual, verbal, cyber and domestic abuse (citation). Amidst the changing societal views towards treating women equally and eliminating objectification, of all these types of violence and abuse in our society, the most common still happens to be domestic abuse, which is mainly targeted at women and affects children. Domestic abuse is described as a form of abuse that takes place in the confines of the household (Citation). Though 51% of Canadians have said to have experienced or witnessed domestic abuse only 20% of those cases related to domestic violence are ever reported (citation). Domestic abuse has become more prevalent in modern society; however, it is an issue that is left un-noticed simply because its effects are invisible outside the walls of ones home. In reality the effects of domestic violence have severe negative effects on women, children and the social structure of today’s society. Without any notification of domestic violence the re precautions of this abuse can be dire. When an individual thinks of domestic abuse, their ideas quickly relate back to women, simply because women are the usual and most common victims of domestic violence. And therefore is an issue that must be resolved rather than ignored.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Elder Abuse

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    Did you know that, according to the National Institute of Justice website, “There are few reliable national measures of elder abuse. This is partially because there is no uniform reporting system for elder abuse in the U.S.” ("Extent of Elder Abuse Victimization," 2015). It is sad that, in a country as developed as ours, we have no standard way of reporting elder abuse.

    Read More

  • Domestic Violence Against Women in Canada

    2259 Words  | 5 Pages

    Intimate partner violence has been a significant issue for centuries in all countries. "Since 1974, nearly 2,600 spousal homicides have been recorded in Canada" (Bunge, 2002). Of these homicides, more than three-quarters have been against women. Although through feminism and the women's liberation movement, there has been a slight improvement in the incidences of violence against women, there has also been a drastic change in the perception of the issue by society. After reviewing the most recent literature on violence against women and victimization through intimate partners, it has become prevalent that there are now two crucial stances that are taken. The first position is that of the women being victimized as the main issue, including prevention, causes and incidences. The second position is that of women becoming more 'aggressive' and the issue of violence against both men and women. "Wife battering- the original problem constituted by the 1970s feminists- has morphed into 'domestic violence' and then into 'husband abuse'" (Minaker, 2006). This literature review will examine the background information on intimate partner violence including different arguments and perspectives, theories, and methodologies as well as discuss the major findings and future directions of research.

    Read More

  • Reporting Elder Abuse

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin, “Financial abuse towards the elderly is defined as the financial exploitation of seniors because of vulnerabilities related with age”. (Crimes-of-persuasion.com). It is unfortunate that this kind of abuse can be done by someone the elders know and trust – such as, family members, visitors, nurses, social workers, or doctors. From the same website, an explanation is given on how seniors may not report such a crime for a variety of reasons. Some may be either that they are simply unaware of the situation, afraid of revenge by the abuser, or ashamed that they cannot handle the abuse in their own home themselves. It has been proven, by the Mature Market Institute, a research organization, that four out five cases of elder abuse from a financial nature are not reported because of the motives that were previously stated. Is this ...

    Read More

  • Elder Financial Exploitation

    2221 Words  | 5 Pages

    In recent years, the shameful subject of elder abuse has gained more awareness among community members. In particular, the complexity of elder financial abuse often makes manipulative dealings by fraudsters difficult to identify and separate from actual permissive transactions made by older victims. The result is that these cases are very rarely prosecuted and many other undetected cases continue to fall far below the radar of society. The consequences of financial exploitation of older adults are reaching far beyond the immediate distress of financial depletion. Victims may also experience declines in physical and mental health as well as the risk of a decrease in life expectancy (Kemp & Mosqueda, 2005). The purpose of the following studies is to address the issue of financial exploitation of elder adults through the means of intervention, prosecution, prevention, and correlation between different forms of abuse.

    Read More

  • Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse

    971 Words  | 2 Pages

    The selection of whether an abused older adult should enter an adult protection agency or a domestic violence program is often dependent on her age and whether or not the abuser is of relation or known to the victim (Kilbane & Spira, 2010). The concept of being known to the perpetrator is similar to US law regarding sexual abuse of a child, whereas, according to Fong and Cardoso (2010) child sexual abuse comes in many forms; however, some forms of child sexual abuse does not qualify a child victim for services provided by the child protection agency. To reap the benefits of the child protective agency, “…the perpetrator of sexual abuse needs to be responsible for the care and custody of the child” (pp. 313). One can argue that there is a moral failure of the legislative body to pass laws that does not provide the needed protections for older woman against perpetrators. The requirement of the perpetrator needing to be known to the older victim appears unjust for the older woman. For example, older women suffer from dementia which renders her forgetful of the individual/caregiver (Reingold, 2006). In this scenario, the perpetrator of the abuse may not be known to the victim ...

    Read More

  • Missouri's Mandated Reporting of Elder Abuse

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services, there are three things that elder abuse can be classified as. It can be classified as abuse, neglect, or likelihood of serious physical harm. While all of these classifications sounds quite similar, there are some subtle differences. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services defines abuse as " the infliction of physical, sexual, or emotional injury or harm including financial exploitation by any person, firm, or corporation" ("Protective Services For Adults," n.d., para. 4). Elder neglect is "the failure to provide services to an eligible adult by any person, firm, or corporation with a legal or contractual duty to do so, when such failure presents either an imminent danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the client or a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm would result"("Protective Services For Adults," n.d., para. 4). Abuse, neglect, as well as likelihood of serious physical harm are all reportable by law. ("Protective Services For Adults," n.d).

    Read More

  • South Asian Women

    2220 Words  | 5 Pages

    In a 1999, a national survey was conduct on the domestic violence of women in Canada . The study concluded that the highest prevalence of abuse was found in the homes of immigrants from developing countries. This study shows that most immigrant women internalize and hide the crimes due to social stigma, shame, cultural/religious constraints and lack of community resources (Preisser, 1999).

    Read More

  • Elder Abuse Legislation: Is it doing what it should?

    3133 Words  | 7 Pages

    Laws are created to protect and prevent unacceptable actions from happening. As the awareness of abuse became apparent to advocate groups there was a push toward the creation of legislation. The first initial movement toward incorporating elder care in legislation was in the 1960s with the Older Americans Act. The Older Americans Act assigned guardianship or institutionalization to cases of abuse. This trend continued into the 1970s with the creation of Adult Protective Services. The Adult Protective Services was created through the Social Security Act to protect adults 18 or older who suffer from abuse, neglect, or exploitation through funding for welfare programs. Just three years into the new millenium the Elder Justice Act was introduced. In 2010, the Elder Justice Act was made into a law and began receiving funding from the federal government as part of President Obama’s health care reform bill.

    Read More

  • Violence Against Women In Canada

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the single year of 2009, there were 460,000 reported incidents of sexual assault against women in Canada (“Criminal Victimization in Canada” 1). Amnesty International once stated that aggression against women “is so deeply embedded in society that it often fails to garner public censure and outrage.” This is evidenced by the fact that only roughly 10% of all sexual assaults are revealed, and to exacerbate the circumstances, women are frequently repudiated, blamed, and dispensed apathetic or cruel manipulation (“Violence Against Women Information” 1). Women’s rights are constantly defiled through domestic violence, and yet it is still abounding and ubiquitous in developed countries. Indeed, every six days, a woman in Canada is brutally killed by the one whom she considered her loving male partner. With every year that passes, approximately 362,000 children are witness to violent parental episodes in Canada. Witnessing violence can disturb the development of children and can eventuate in

    Read More

  • Elder Abuse in Healthcare Settings: An Unseen Crisis

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    Elderly adults face an abundant amount of abuse in many healthcare settings. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), elder abuse is defined as, “intentional or neglectful acts by a caregiver or “trusted” individual that lead to, or may lead to, harm of a vulnerable elder” (NCEA, 2017, p. 2). Elder abuse can possess many forms, including physical abuse, neglect, emotional or psychological abuse, financial abuse or exploitation, sexual abuse, and abandonment. (NCEA, 2017, p. 2). This abuse can take place in many settings that house seniors, age 65 years old and up regardless of age, sex, or race. These senior care facilities can include, rehabilitation centers, long-term care facilities, nursing homes, and/or senior day care

    Read More

  • Caregiver Abuse Case Study

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    Caregiver abuse is another issue that occurs in retirement homes which are also underreported. Caregiver abuse can be physical, verbal, emotional, neglect, financial and social. CTV staff of W5 had reported that fifteen-hundred cases of staff-to-residents abuse in nursing homes in Canada (Sourtzis & Bandera, 2015). The news channel mentions that the number of senior’s abuse and neglect cases is likely to be higher, based on those that do not report the abuse. One case they highlighted was the story of Margaret Warholm, a seventy-four-year old mother who was placed in Santa Maria Senior Citizen’s Home by her family. Her family had carefully selected this home to treat their mom’s spinal problems. When Margaret’s symptoms worsen, staff members were advised that she was to remain in bed and not be moved for any reason. One day, two staff members tried to move Margaret from her bed to a wheelchair. They dropped her on the floor and did not inform the family of the incident.

    Read More

  • Essay On Social Problems

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social isolation has to do with when older people retire, thus cutting off an important source of social activity. Declining health also increases isolation by making it hard to get around. Death of friends, neighbors, family members, and spouses also contribute to this issue and consequently make a new one, a higher risk of death. Months after a spouse dies, the partner is at a higher risk of death due to depression henceforth leading to suicide. Retirement is a big part of aging which many younger people do not think about. As a result of a fluctuating economy, many people are very cautious about giving up working and staging or maybe even not retiring. Elderly abuse is defined as a range of behavior that includes passive neglect, active emotional and verbal mistreatment, and even life-threating physical violence. For example unfairly taking some other property or wrongfully taking an older person’s money, but most of these cases go undetected because many are afraid to speak out. Some fear the abuse will increase and for this reason they don’t file a complaint (Macionis). There are many different political viewpoints concerning

    Read More

  • Self Reflection On Violence Against Women

    1752 Words  | 4 Pages

    Violence against women (VAW) is now considered and recognized as a public health predicament and a human rights infringement of a worldwide scale and force (Ono, 2013; Raj & Silverman, 2002). Research evidence exists for it serving as a crucial social determinant of health and its resulting vast and damaging impact on physical and mental health for women in Canada (Sharma, 2001). Violence as a concept includes diverse forms of abuse that are directed at women and girls across their lifetime. One critical category or form of violence against women is domestic violence. For the purpose of this paper terms violence against women and domestic violence will be used interchangeably. Domestic violence has been recognized as a critical social problem

    Read More

More about Violence Against the Elderly: a cross-cultural perspective

Open Document