Elder Maltreatment: Understanding Through a Case Study and Policy Analysis in Australia

Running head: ELDER MALTREATMENT
Elder maltreatment
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1ELDER MALTREATMENT
According to World Health Organization (WHO), violence is intentional use of power or
physical force, actual or threatened against another person or oneself, community or group
resulting in harm, injury, death, deprivation or maltreatment (Devries et al. 2013). Globally,
death due to violence is estimated to be 1.28 million increased from 1.13 million since 1990.
Among all the categories of violence, self-harm or suicide accounted for roughly 842,000,
405,000 interpersonal violence and 31,000 war or collective violence (Butchart and Mikton
2014). Elder abuse is another form of violence that is causing harm to older people and violation
of human rights. There is psychological, physical, emotional, financial and material abuse
resulting in neglect, harm, abandonment and loss of respect and dignity of older people (Dillon et
al. 2013). There is little information about the extent of elder maltreatment as older people are
scared to report to others. Therefore, the following essay involves the discussion of elder
maltreatment understood through the lens of elder abuse case study and policy analysis of Elder
Abuse Policy Australia.
In the given case study, a 78 year old man with Parkinson’s disease is being cared by his
82 year old wife who is weak and delicate. The wife fell and fractured wrist, however, she was
insisted to continue with her husband’s personal care. When the outpatient Physiotherapy (PT)
attended her fracture, PT saw bruises on her arms and face saying that she has fallen or ran into a
door. On insisting, eventually she admitted that her husband gets angry and often hit her. This
case study is elderly maltreatment and the chosen category of violence is interpersonal violence
(Moyer 2013). It is divided into categories like intimate partner violence and family between
partners and family members that take place in home. Interpersonal violence is one of the
commonest violence forms against women including sexual, physical, emotional and
psychological abuse and dominating behaviour by the intimate partner. In the given case study,

2ELDER MALTREATMENT
the wife is being physically violated by her husband despite of the fact that she is taking care of
him suffering from neuro-degenerative disorder. There is fear of retaliation, lack of economic
support and social support from family and friends are some of the barriers that the wife is facing
and eventually unable to leave her partner. The main risk factors involved in abuse of the wife in
the case study is impaired capability of the husband along with physical health issues. She is
subjected to physical abuse and violence by her intimate partner having a huge impact on her
health as a result of elderly maltreatment. According to WHO report, about 19-51% women are
physically harassed by their intimate partners and have serious health consequences. There are
immediate physical, behavioural and mental health consequences persisting long after the
violence (Devries et al. 2013).
Every one in ten individual of the age of above 60 years being older live at home
experience abuse and neglect where maximum cases remain hidden as reported by Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Spivak et al. 2014). There are physical consequences of
elder maltreatment that are immediate including wounds, welts and injuries. In the given case
study, the woman is bruised on her face and arms and is subjected to persistent physical pain due
to broken wrist and soreness. She is aged and there is exacerbation of pre-existing health
condition due to this maltreatment affecting her health and mental status. There are
psychological effects due to this elder abuse affecting her mental health due to helplessness and
increased risk for anxiety and fear reactions that might have stopped her from revealing to the
PT.
The above discussion suggests that physical elderly maltreatment has a greater link to
adverse behavioural and mental health outcomes, but independently associated with morbidity
and premature mortality. According to Dong, Chen and Simon (2014) psychological abuse

3ELDER MALTREATMENT
estimates ranging from 27.9% to 62.3% is highly prevalent among elderly population and
physical abuse affecting 3.5% to 23.1%. In Australia, population based studies provided some
insights into extent of elderly women subjected to abuse. The research was conducted by
Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health (2014) to study the random sample of women
regarding older women abuse (Loxton et al. 2015). The findings suggested that around 8% are
vulnerable to physical abuse and neglect. This result depicts that elderly abuse is happening;
however there is lack of reporting and therefore, this policy provides responses to elderly
maltreatment. This policy is framed with an aim to support and promote elderly people for equal
participation in the society and protection of older people against advantage or misuse taken by
intimate partners, informal or formal supporters or representatives.
To safeguard the elderly maltreatment and provide elderly protective services, there
should be mandatory reporting of elder abuse and need for health policy research directions
dealing with this pervasive issue. There is need for effective strategies for detecting, treating and
preventing elder abuse increasing diversely in the elderly population. Health policy comprises of
plans, decisions, actions that need to be undertaken for the achievement of specific goals in
healthcare in elder abuse (Bodenheimer and Grumbach 2012). This health policy advancement
and collective advocacy would help to create a national infrastructure in Australia for the
protection of vulnerable elder population.
The health policy development comprising of strategies and plans is a dynamic and
complex process conducted by WHO framework comprising of key elements. According to
WHO (2014) report, for the protection and support to elderly people, national policy is important
that is dedicated to safeguard elder people for any type of violence and abuse (Dong et al. 2013).
The literature on elderly abuse suggests that national policy on elderly maltreatment can help in