Barriers To Obtaining Elder Abuse Statistics
Several conditions make it hard for researchers to obtain accurate statistics on elder abuse. Researchers may have a hard time obtaining accurate elder abuse statistics for the following reasons:
- Elder abuse is largely a hidden problem and tends to be committed in the privacy of the elderly person's home, mostly by his or her family members
- Elder abuse victims are often unwilling to report their abuse for fear of others' disbelief, fear of loss of independence, fear of being institutionalized, fear of losing their only social support (especially if the perpetrator is a relative), and fear of being subject to future retaliation by the perpetrator(s),
- Elder abuse victims' cognitive decline and ill health may prevent them from reporting their abuse
- Lack of proper training of service providers, such as social workers, law enforcement, nurses, etc., about elder abuse, therefore the number of cases reported tend to be low
Read more about this topic: Elder Abuse
Famous quotes containing the words barriers to, barriers, obtaining, elder, abuse and/or statistics:
“The principle that human nature, in its psychological aspects, is nothing more than a product of history and given social relations removes all barriers to coercion and manipulation by the powerful.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“Developing the muscles of the soul demands no competitive spirit, no killer instinct, although it may erect pain barriers that the spiritual athlete must crash through.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“And if the civilized man’s pursuits are no worthier than the savage’s, if he is employed the greater part of his life in obtaining gross necessaries and comforts merely, why should he have a better dwelling than the former?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Oh yes, that’s right. They chain up wild animals. That’s all I am, an animal.”
—John Elder [Anthony Hinds], British screenwriter, and Terence Fisher. Leon (Oliver Reed)
“Let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)
“We already have the statistics for the future: the growth percentages of pollution, overpopulation, desertification. The future is already in place.”
—Günther Grass (b. 1927)