Older Adult Health : Elder Abuse

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Older Adult Health
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Elder abuse
The risk factors that make the senior adults more susceptible to elder abuse include living
arrangements, social isolation, and the individual. Existing literature shows that living in a shared
house is a significant risk factor for elderly abuse than when they live alone. The study by
VandeWeerd, Paveza, Walsh, and Corvin (2013) found out that older adults diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s disease were much more mistreated by care providers when they lived with close
family members. A shared living arrangement increases the chances of association and conflict
and mishandling.
Social isolation is as a result of hiding behaviors that are prohibited and once such actions
are detected then the family members may initiate informal sanctions. Such incidences of
mistreatment are rare in families with strong social networks (Yan, E., Chan, & Tiwari, 2015). A
prospective study by Post et al. (2010) found out that elders with poor social networks reported
significant incidences of mistreatment which were mostly verbal and physical.
An individual himself/herself can be a risk factor for mistreatment from the perspective
of mental health, conduct, and gender. If the abused has mental health issues, then he/she may be
mishandled in the effort to contain the older adult (Yon et al., 2017).
(White Ribbon Australia, 2019; Blakey, 2016)
Risk Assessment
The elderly patient that I had taken care of had an average cognitive communication
impairment that I assessed using the Iowa Pain Thermometer which is an adapted descriptive
verbal scale (Ware et al., 2015). I asked the patient to describe the intensity of his pain from
seven options namely no pain, slight pain, mild pain, moderate pain, severe pain, very severe

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pain, and the most intense pain imaginable). I also gave the patient an option to identify the scale
that well represents his pain intensity from a scale ranging from 0 to 12 which are indicated next
to the pain thermometer also. I then showed the scale to the patient and repeated to him how the
temperature rises in the instrument and requested him to perceive the increase in body pain as the
reading in the thermometer increases. After which the patient was requested to point out to the
level of his pain intensity.
The patient was experiencing constipation after long-term use of opioid which further led
to bowel obstruction. Due to the increased risk of constipation among older adults, the patient
was administered with a bowel program of laxatives in addition to the opioids to help avoid
bowel obstructions (Dalacorte, Rigo, & Dalacorte, 2011).
(Campbell, 2016; Dukes, 2017)
Type II diabetes
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic condition caused by the ineffective use of insulin by
the body. It is a disease that was commonly prevalent among adults but also affects young
children these days due to childhood obesity. The condition is commonly caused by excess body
weight and living a sedentary lifestyle (Sharma, Nazareth, & Petersen, 2016). Type 2 diabetes is
prevalent among senior adults and increases with age. 1 in 6 people aged 65 years and above
were reported to have type 2 diabetes. The elderly aged 85 years and above had the highest
prevalence of type 2 diabetes (19.4%). 55% of the cases were men aged 65 years and above with
the rest being women. Type 2 diabetes accounted for 90% of diabetes among older adults aged
65 years and above (AIHW, 2019). Three most effective strategies to promote health among
diabetic older adults include the educational approach, strengthen community action, and the