Question

Family Violence in Later Life, Elder Mistreatment in Institutional Settings and Elder Sexual Abuse

Examples of family violence in later life, institutional elder mistreatment and elder sexual abuse.[i]

1. Mrs. and Mr. Jefferson lived together for 43 years. Two years ago, their youngest son moved in with them after his divorce. The son worked at the local casino, but drank and gambled away his salary. He threatened to hurt his mother and destroy his father’s reputation in the community (he was an elder on the tribal council) if they did not give him money.

[i] Examples excerpted either directly or with slight adaptation from B. Brandl, C. Bitondo Dyer, C.J. Heisler, J. Marlatt Otto, L. Stiegel & R. Thomas, Elder abuse detection and intervention: A collaborative approach (New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2007), 64-71.

Questions related to the above examples:

• For each case, what is the alleged perpetrator’s relationship with the victim? Where did the mistreatment occur (community or institution)? What types of mistreatment do you think occurred? How does the perpetrator use the victim’s vulnerabilities to control or exploit him/her? Is the victim able to reach out for help?
• What are challenges that nurses might face when presented with these different types of cases?

Answer 1

• The perpetrator is the son of the victims
• The mistreatment occurred in the home,so called as in community
• The type of mistreatment occurred here is domestic violence (financial abuse,threat of physical abuse and emotional abuse (threatening to defame his father's reputation in the society )
• The perpetrator used the victim's vulnerabilities to exploit them for money
• Yes the victim are able to reach for help. They can call and inform the National helpline for family violence.
• The challenges which can be faced by a nurse with these different types of cases are
  • Providing emotional support at this age
  • To help them with thrir daily needs
  • To act as a advocate and inform the concerned department about the abuse faced by the victims