Elder abuse perpetration: A review of the evidence

Younger person assisting an elderly person
Abstract

Australia’s population is aging, and the importance of strengthening systems to meet the needs and protect the rights of older people has become more pressing. This includes protection from abuse and neglect. While dedicated efforts to understand and address elder abuse have grown over the past 20 years, there are ongoing gaps in understanding of the perpetration and perpetrators of elder abuse, which the current report begins to address by collating the findings of existing Australian and international research.

The report canvasses key findings about the prevalence of elder abuse, the prevalence and co occurrence of different forms of elder abuse—including financial abuse and its indicators— and risk factors, perpetrator characteristics and motives and perpetrator interventions. Notable gaps in this evidence base include an absence of Australian research on many aspects of elder abuse perpetration; a dearth of research that draws on data collected from perpetrators, directly examining their motives for perpetrating abuse and the details and tactics of their abuse; and a lack of rigorous research on the effectiveness of interventions for perpetrators. There are also significant gaps in research on the perpetration and perpetrators of elder abuse in populations of special interest, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culturally and linguistically diverse, LGBTIQ+ and rural/remote populations.

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Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Acronyms and abbreviations
  • Abstract
  • Executive summary
    • Background and aims
    • Findings
  • Introduction
    • Background and aims
    • Approach
  • Definitions of elder abuse
    • Australian and international definitions
    • Issues and challenges with defining elder abuse
    • Summary
  • Prevalence of elder abuse
    • Victimisation rates
    • Perpetration rates
    • Summary
  • Behaviours of perpetrators
    • Prevalence of perpetration behaviours
    • Co-occurrence of perpetration behaviours
    • Perpetration behaviours in specific populations
    • Summary
  • Profiles and motives of perpetrators
    • Perpetrator characteristics
    • Perpetrator motives
    • Perpetrator characteristics and motives in specific populations
    • Summary
  • Financial abuse of older persons
    • Financial abuse and vulnerabilities to it in older persons
    • Signs and indicators of the financial abuse of older persons
    • Characteristics of financial abuse perpetrators
    • Summary
  • Interventions for perpetrators
    • Evaluation research
    • Guiding principles
    • Summary
  • Summary and conclusion
  • References