Elder Abuse and Neglect Risk Alleviation in Protective Services

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Social Work
• Public Health

Background:

• Elder mistreatment (EM) poses significant risks, yet factors predicting favorable case outcomes remain understudied.
• Protective service programs aim to mitigate risks in substantiated elder abuse and neglect cases.
• The socio-cultural model provides a framework for understanding complex EM dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify victim, perpetrator, relationship, and socio-cultural factors associated with risk alleviation in elder mistreatment (EM) cases.
• To examine predictors of undifferentiated EM risk alleviation and specific sub-types (financial, emotional, physical).
• To inform the development of targeted practice strategies and protective service infrastructure.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 250 elder mistreatment protective social service cases in New York City.
• Employed multinomial and binary logistic regression analyses.
• Data were collected and coded by multiple, independent raters for reliability.

Main Results:

• Undifferentiated EM risk alleviation linked to male victim gender, older victim age, prior help-seeking, separate living arrangements, and shorter abuse duration.
• Financial abuse cases with younger perpetrators showed reduced risk reduction.
• Physical abuse risk reduction was less likely with male perpetrators and different-gender victim-perpetrator dyads.

Conclusions:

• Distinct predictors for different EM sub-types necessitate targeted interventions.
• Findings underscore the need for specialized practice strategies for diverse EM experiences.
• Developing protective service infrastructure focused on perpetrator rehabilitation is recommended.