Elderly Abuse and Neglect in Long Term Care Facilities in America : A systematic Review

Hypothesis Elderly abuse and neglect occurs as a result of lack of relevant personnel training, poor remuneration, and depression among caregivers. To test the hypothesis, overall findings analyzed confirm if they were in agreement or not. Background: Reports of cases of elderly abuse and neglect have been on the increase. To add on to that, not enough studies exist that can be of help in guiding policy-makers to formulate solutions and offer answers as to why this problem is on the increase. Method: These researchers conducted a review of existing literature about elderly abuse in order to better understand the risk factors and causes of elderly abuse and neglect. Information was mined from various databases that contained information relevant to this review. Results: : Results of findings showed that reports of abuse cases were on the rise, especially among the elderly patients; worse still for those with a secondary chronic illness like dementia and Parkinson’s Disease. Women reported more cases of abuse compared to those reported by men. By demographics, abuse was found to be much higher among minority groups like the African Americans and Asians Americans. Some elderly patients in the studies experienced concurrent types or forms of abuse. Those with severe forms of cognitive impairments reported the highest cases of abuse and self-neglect. Conclusion: Better remuneration, continuous training to caregivers about aging and better healthcare skills are necessary to help to end this scourge. This study concludes that despite great efforts made by some institutions to end abuse and neglect, more publicity, more studies or research and more funds are required in order to build a sufficient body of knowledge that can be relied upon by the relevant policy-makers.