According to the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) there has been a steady growth of the elderly in the United States. This growing population of age 65 and older has been predicted to continue to increase due to better conditions and increase of medical help for the seniors. Mortality rate tremendously dropped as medical research success helped the society's health and improved elder care services. This increase of the elderly in our population has also increased the rate of abuse. According to Johannesen, M., & LoGiudice, D. (2013). Elder abuse: a systematic review of risk factors in community-dwelling elders. Age and Ageing, afs195.
At least 6% of the elderly abuse was reported every month. But experts estimate that there is only 1 reported in every 23 cases. Elder abuse is a human rights violation that must be given attention just like any other form of abuse. These elder abuse cases were left unreported because some elderly do not have families, they fear retaliation from the abuser especially if the abuser is a member of the family they do not want to upset the family member, they are embarrassed about what happened to them, and they fear they will be removed from their house losing their independence, lack of understanding how to report. In order to prevent elder abuse, it is important to know its prevalence, its classification, and the strategic steps towards intervention.
Classification of Elder Abuse .
There are factors why an elder person may be more predisposed to abuse than others. Gerry Benette and Paul Kingston mentioned that the stereotype female whose communication skills are impaired and is in total dependence to a caregiver is more likely to get abused than a male elderly who still has the ability to talk and assert. A profile of a typical abuser was described as, "a person who is not employed, has a prior criminal history or domestic violence case, has a history on drug or alcohol dependence"(2013).
