Social Abuse Among Elderly People in Australia

This article discusses the issue of social abuse among elderly people in Australia, highlighting the vulnerability of the elderly and the need for government and societal support. It explores the historical and current community responses to elder abuse and provides recommendations to address the issue. The article emphasizes the importance of education, collaboration, increasing public knowledge, strengthening the law and order system, and supporting organizations working towards elder welfare.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Foundations of the Human Services Disciplines
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Articulation of the issue
Social abuse usually takes place in many different forms and by many different agents as
well. Social abuse by definition refers to the oppression and the isolation that is inflicted upon
the people of a particular group or age. One such instance of social abuse is seen among the
elderly people of Australia. This is one of the severe social needs that must be taken care of by
the Government of Australia and the society as a whole because the aged people are like our
assets and we must always take care of them. However often the old and elder people are
subjected to social isolation and are also detached from their basic financial, health and also
family support system. Coles et al., (2015) have opined that the brutal incidences of the leader
social abuse are taking a gruesome picture in Australia. This is because old age is the most
vulnerable age and people tend to lean more upon their near and dear ones.
However, the 21st century is the age of huge competition. Therefore people in most of the
families are work and they often find it tough to strike a balance between their household
activities and also their official responsibilities. This can also be considered as one of the major
reason why people tend to neglect their parents and their grandparents at a certain period.
However, Broadley, (2015) has argued that there are several plans, policies, and acts being
established by the Government of Australia to provide proper protection to the elderly people of
Australia to prevent any kinds of social abuse. However, some issues are still faced by people
even after they are entitled to the services. As is seen from the reports, women are the most
vulnerable in their old ages. However, it is a fact that both the men and women are subjected to
immense physical and mental abuse in their old age. Lawyers have forwarded their views
regarding this fact emphasizing that the elder female clients are usually greater sufferers than the
make clients. For an instance, it is said by an 80-year-old lady that she was busy in dressing

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herself her for granddaughter’s wedding ceremony and unknowingly and in that existent, she was
made to sign some papers which gave the entire ownership of her house to her granddaughter.
(Turner, 2019).
In a similar context, it is also said by another lady that she had lived a life under domestic
violence all her life and finally, she felt that she got relief. She thought that she will be able to
lead a peaceful life with her son. Unfortunately, her son took away all her money to buy a house
for him while forcing the lady to stay in a nursing home. As per the opinion of Mazzone
Nocentini and Menesini, (2018) there are some difference in the domestic violence and the elder
abuse because there is the breach of trust seen in the case of elder abuse.
Historical and current community responses
There are several policies undertaken by the Government to safeguard the rights of
elderly people. Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 is one of the Government
endeavors that was taken to provide a complete safeguard to the interest of the old people who
suffer from financial, physical and mental abuse. Though efforts have been made to identify and
save people that are subjected to violence some kinds of drawbacks are still staying. These
backlogs are usually created because people try to group domestic violence and elderly violence.
This must be understood in a similar context that there are certain lines of variations among the
two and therefore they must be dealt with properly. It must be noted that elderly women are often
survivors of domestic violence since their early ages and there was no one to give them any right
pieces of advice. This prolonged period of torture might lead to many other problems like
dementia in the elder ages. Therefore the Government must provide multidisciplinary or inter-
professional care so that these people who are the victims of elderly abuse can find a respite.

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This will be helping them to get better as they will be able to get a multidisciplinary help.
EAAA or the elder Abuse action Australia is another such organization that tries to fight the
cause of elder abuse and make sure that the old people are being able to speak out their stories
(Arnold et al., 2016). One of the aspects that have been lacking in the community response is the
overcoming of prejudice and stereotypes. As per the opinion of Nikathil et al., (2018), often
people or the caregivers are not able to come out of their biases. There is common thinking that
the actual victims of domestic violence are young women. This is not right as elder women are
also the victims of abuse and tortures. Turner, (2019) have also opined that for several centuries
the DV or the domestic violence pictures have been portrayed in a very biased or stereotypical
manner. The advertisements and the posters have majorly been showing by the images of young
women. However, efforts are being taken to overcome this issue.
An innovative program is being undertaken at St. Vincents Hospital in Melbourne. A
social worker, Megan O'Brien (as part of her Ph.D.), has developed a program which involves all
the health professionals from a most senior level down. They have developed a team of the
highly experienced and the well-trained professionals from all the higher levels who are trying to
undertake one to one sessions with all the clients to know about the different issues that they are
undergoing. It has been seen that there were several such cases of DV or domestic violence that
have been reported earlier needed further analysis. It is after the further analysis that the team of
senior experts realized it to be a case of elder abuse and not just DV or domestic violence.
Housing facilities have to be developed for the victims of elder abuse so that they can get rid of
their isolation. It must be realized that the old age is a very vulnerable period and all the older
individuals want to stay among their family members. Therefore forcing them to stay at the old

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age homes or the nursing homes might prove to be detrimental.400 cases of which 70%, on
further examination, involved elder abuse have been discovered. They now have a lawyer on the
team who is in the hospital for 3 days a week and they have been able to assist their patients to
address the issues they are facing -
Recommendation
 Educating the violence perpetrator of violence is of utmost importance. It is the
responsibility of the Australian Government to make sure that they are conducting many
seminars and workshops to take care of the victims and also in educating the ones who
are inflicting the pain.
 Proper collaborations with family and health care centers must be developed so that the
victims of elder abuse can be given a multidisciplinary help. Victims of elder abuse are
often in need of some mental counseling sessions as well. This will; help them to speak
about their stories and their experiences. Health care professionals must properly
collaborate with all other departments who can prove to be helpful in this aspect.
 Increasing public knowledge is of utmost importance. The government must grant funds
to the Universities so that researchers can undertake their research on the topic of elder
abuse. This will help them to bring the topic into the limelight and to make the common
people aware of the different mental and physical issues that they can go through if
subjected to isolation
 Law and order system must also be boosted up so that there is proper scrutiny of the elder
abuse cases. Often these cases are ignored and are not verified. This happens due to the
lack of sufficient awareness on the part of the family members, caregivers and also the
policemen. The local investigators and the local police often suffer from the lack of

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proper awareness and also the right kinds of sources that must be present for carrying on
with the investigation.
 Communities like Eldermark must be given Government funds, grants and donations so
that they can develop themselves and keep on helping the senior individuals who suffer
from elder abuse. They try to keep the welfare and the safety needs of their elders at heart
and take care of all their diseases and the different problems that they are undergoing.
 Proper horizontal communication system and feedback system must be developed so that
the Government and the community representatives can visit the old age homes or the
other care centers to know if the victims have been benefitted after the initiation of the
policies.

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References
Arnold, B., Bateman, H., Ferguson, A., & Raftery, A. (2016). Partner-scale economies, service
bundling, and auditor independence in the Australian self-managed superannuation
(pension) fund industry. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 36(2), 161-180.
Broadley, K. (2015). Is there a role for adult protection services in the lives of young people with
disabilities transitioning from out-of-home care?. Australian Social Work, 68(1), 84-98.
Castle, N., Ferguson-Rome, J. C., & Teresi, J. A. (2015). Elder abuse in residential long-term
care: an update to the 2003 National Research Council report. Journal of Applied
Gerontology, 34(4), 407-443.
Coles, J., Lee, A., Taft, A., Mazza, D., & Loxton, D. (2015). Childhood sexual abuse and its
association with adult physical and mental health: Results from a national cohort of
young Australian women. Journal of interpersonal violence, 30(11), 1929-1944.
Mazzone, A., Nocentini, A., & Menesini, E. (2018). Bullying and peer violence among children
and adolescents in residential care settings: A review of the literature. Aggression and
violent behavior, 38, 101-112.
Nikathil, S., Olaussen, A., Symons, E., Gocentas, R., O'Reilly, G., & Mitra, B. (2018).
Increasing workplace violence in an Australian adult emergency department. Emergency
Medicine Australasia, 30(2), 181-186.

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Turner, R. (2019). Robbed, abused, intimidated: The shocking tales of elder abuse
victims. www.abc.net.au. Available from- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-04/the-
shocking-tales-of-elder-abuse-victims/9504798