Introduction
Nursing homes are considered a safe haven for older adults that may not have family to take care of them. They have nurses working around the clock to provide the utmost care. Having individuals within the same age group can help ease such a difficult transition from living with family to living with assisted care. Leaving them in the care of a stranger is never easy. The family will never truly know if the care promised, is actually being provided. America’s burgeoning elder population has affected every segment of the social, political, and economic landscape. Public debate of the issue surrounding the special needs of the estimated 44 million people in this country age 60 years and over has increased national awareness and concern. As the public look toward improving the lives of the elderly, abuse and neglect of elders living in nursing homes have …show more content…
The National Elder abuse Incidence Study has shed some new light on this significant problem with the finding that approximately 450,000 elderly persons in domestic settings were abused and/or neglecting during 1996. With the best available estimates, between 1 and 2 million Americans ages 65 or older have been injured, exploited, or mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care of protection. (National center on elderly abuse) Data and statistics have been difficult to collect due to the fact that there are several types of abuse – making it hard to pinpoint exactly what constitutes maltreatment. Abuse can be broken down into five classifications: Physical, emotional, sexual, financial and neglect. Mistreatment among the elderly is an issue that is hard to detect, therefore making it a problem that can simply go unreported. When a problem is difficult to detect and lacks official statistics, it becomes difficult to understand the magnitude of the situation. This paper seeks to analyze the history behind elderly abuse, the different methods of abuse that occur, contributing factors
Nursing homes are considered a safe haven for older adults that may not have family to take care of them. They have nurses working around the clock to provide the utmost care. Having individuals within the same age group can help ease such a difficult transition from living with family to living with assisted care. Leaving them in the care of a stranger is never easy. The family will never truly know if the care promised, is actually being provided. America’s burgeoning elder population has affected every segment of the social, political, and economic landscape. Public debate of the issue surrounding the special needs of the estimated 44 million people in this country age 60 years and over has increased national awareness and concern. As the public look toward improving the lives of the elderly, abuse and neglect of elders living in nursing homes have …show more content…
The National Elder abuse Incidence Study has shed some new light on this significant problem with the finding that approximately 450,000 elderly persons in domestic settings were abused and/or neglecting during 1996. With the best available estimates, between 1 and 2 million Americans ages 65 or older have been injured, exploited, or mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care of protection. (National center on elderly abuse) Data and statistics have been difficult to collect due to the fact that there are several types of abuse – making it hard to pinpoint exactly what constitutes maltreatment. Abuse can be broken down into five classifications: Physical, emotional, sexual, financial and neglect. Mistreatment among the elderly is an issue that is hard to detect, therefore making it a problem that can simply go unreported. When a problem is difficult to detect and lacks official statistics, it becomes difficult to understand the magnitude of the situation. This paper seeks to analyze the history behind elderly abuse, the different methods of abuse that occur, contributing factors