Elder abuse and neglect in nursing homes as a reciprocal process: the view from the perspective of care workers

Elder abuse and neglect in nursing homes as a reciprocal process: the view from the perspective of care workers Ana Paula Gil, Manuel Luis Capelas The Journal of Adult Protection, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.- Reciprocal abuse inside care practices remain under-studied due to their invisibility and further research is required. The purpose of this paper is to explore different levels of conflicts inside organisations. The paper is based on a self-administered questionnaire filled out by care workers (n = 150), in 16 Portuguese care homes. Results indicated that, overall, 54.7% of care workers had observed abuse, in their daily practice, in the preceding 12 months: 48.7% psychological; 36.0% neglectful care practices; 14.0% physical and 3.3% financial abuse. The figures decreased significantly as regards abuse committed themselves, with 16.7% of those admitting to having committed at least one of these behaviours. The highest figures were also recorded for psychological abuse (13.3%) and neglect (6.7%). However, there is a statistically significant relationship between abuse committed by care workers and abuse committed by residents. Overall, 52.0% of care workers reported having been the target of at least one such behaviour by residents. This paper has its limitations as the sample consisted of only 16 nursing homes (12 not-for-profit and 4 for-profit nursing homes). The fact that only 4 of the 16 LTC homes were fo...
Source: The Journal of Adult Protection - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: research