Self-abuse and Neglect
Older adults may neglect themselves by not taking care of or caring about their own personal health and well-being. Elder self-neglect can lead to illness, injury, or even death. Common needs that older adults may deny themselves, or ignore are the following:
- Sustenance (food or water)
- Cleanliness (bathing and personal hygiene)
- Adequate clothing for climate protection
- Proper shelter
- Adequate safety
- Clean and healthy surroundings
- Medical attention for serious illness
- Essential medications
Self-neglect is often created by an individual's declining mental awareness or capability.
Some older adults may choose to deny themselves some health or safety benefits, which may not be self-neglect. This may simply be their personal choice. Caregivers and other responsible individuals must honor these choices if the older adult is sound of mind. In other instances, the older adult may lack the needed resources, as a result of poverty, or other social condition. This is also not considered as "self neglect".
Read more about this topic: Elder Abuse
Famous quotes containing the word neglect:
“Some fear that if parents start listening to their own wants and needs they will neglect their children. It is our belief that children are in fact far less likely to be neglected when their parents’ needs—for support, for friendship, for decent work, for health care, for learning, for play, for time alone—are being met.”
—Wendy Coppedge Sanford. Ourselves and Our Children, by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, introduction (1978)