Question

Discuss the aspects of assessment for elder mistreatment.

Answer 1

Ans) Elder abuse and neglect is a serious and prevalent problem that is estimated to affect 700,000 to 1.2 million older adults annually in this country. Only one in ten cases of elder abuse and neglect are reported and there is a serious underreporting by clinical professionals,likely due to the lack of appropriate screening instruments. Abuse, neglect, exploitation, and abandonment are actions that can lead to elder mistreatment.

Elder mistreatment (EM):

A patient should be referred to social services if the following exists:

1) if there is any evidence of mistreatment without sufficient clinical explanation.

2) whenever there is a subjective complaint by the elder of EM.

3) whenever the clinician believes there is high risk or probable abuse, neglect, exploitation, abandonmentTARGET POPULATION: The EAI is appropriate in all clinical settings and is completed by clinicians that are responsible for screening for elder mistreatment.VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY: The EAI has been used since the early 1980’s.

- The internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) is reported at 0.84 in a sample of 501 older adults who presented in an emergency department setting.

- STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS: The major strengths of the EAI are its rapid assessment capacity (the instrument takes approximately 12-15 minutes) and the way that it sensitizes the clinician to screening for elder mistreatment. Limitations include: no scoring system and weak specificity.