Elder mistreatment, ageism, and human rights.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Social Sciences
• Human Rights Studies

Background:

• Elder mistreatment, social ageism, and human rights are significant societal discourses impacting older adults.
• The interrelationship between these discourses is under-examined, affecting perceptions and responses to mistreatment.
• Understanding these connections is vital for accurate identification and intervention in elder abuse cases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically investigate the relationship between elder mistreatment, social ageism, and human rights.
• To analyze how these discourses position older individuals within society.
• To explore implications for understanding and responding to elder mistreatment.

Main Methods:

• Employed a critical gerontological approach.
• Utilized narrative and textual analysis to examine relevant discourses.

Main Results:

• Public perception suggests elder mistreatment is more prevalent than scientific evidence indicates, yet reporting rates are low.
• Mistreatment discourse often focuses on interpersonal dynamics, ageism on social attitudes, and human rights on state-individual relations.
• Existing models tend to compartmentalize analysis into individual, interpersonal, and social levels.

Conclusions:

• A transactional, cross-boundary approach to analysis, rather than focusing on content, enhances integrative modeling.
• This approach deepens the understanding of abusive situations and their complexities.
• Reintegrating individual, interpersonal, and social levels of analysis is facilitated by focusing on boundary processes.