Resident-to-Resident Abuse: A Scoping Review

Resident-to-resident abuse involves aggression and violence that occurs between long-term care (LTC) home residents and can have serious consequences for both aggressors and victims. To date, there has been no attempt to systematically assess the breadth of the problem in Canada. To address this gap, we undertook a scoping review to enhance understanding of resident-to-resident abuse in LTC homes. A redacted Canadian data set on resident-to-resident abuse is also reported on. Nine electronic literature databases were searched; a total of 784 abstracts were identified, but only 32 satisfied the inclusion criteria. The majority of records (75%) were retrospective case studies, qualitative studies, and reviews/commentaries. Of these, only 14 focused exclusively on resident-to-resident abuse. The redacted Canadian data set suggests resident-to-resident abuse makes up approximately one-third of reported abuse cases. Recommendations for future research, clinical practice, and policy are provided to raise awareness of this phenomenon to help decrease its incidence.