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
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