Prevalence of elder abuse in the rural field practice area of belagavi district a cross - sectional study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION According to WHO, elder abuse is defined as “a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person”. According to an analysis done by WHO in 2016, the most common types are physical abuse (prevalence, 0.2–4.9%); sexual abuse prevalence, 0.04–0.82%); psychological abuse (prevalence, 0.7–6.3%); financial abuse (prevalence, 1.0–9.2%) and neglect (prevalence, 0.2–5.5%). With the rise in the number of elderly to manifold, the country is on the verge of experiencing a tectonic shift demographically in what is popularly coming to be known as the “Grey Tsunami”. Such “Grey Tsunami” will result in the country witnessing a sudden and vast rise in the elderly population in the next two decades with a corresponding rise in their needs and the total unpreparedness of the country to address them. This is also a major concern for policy makers as elderly women have outnumbered elderly males in the last two decades and are more vulnerable on all fronts compared to elderly men. Indians have always believed in living in a joint family system with elderly being the most respectable members in the family. But in the current age scenario, more and more nuclear families are being witnessed. Elder abuse has always been considered a western problem and its existence in India has never been acknowledged seriously. However, there is growing realization among older persons now that they are often perceived as a burden by their children. The coping capacities of the younger and older family members are now being challenged. More often than not there is unwanted behaviour by the younger family members, which is experienced as abnormal by the elder family member. Such isolated behaviour, lack of attention, care and their exclusion in taking important decisions in the family matters makes them feel neglected and disregarded leading to loneliness and depression. OBJECTIVES Primary objective: • To find out the prevalence rate of elder abuse in rural area. • To assess the knowledge and awareness regarding different types of abuses and their determinants among the elderly people residing in rural area. Secondary objective: To identify the redressal mechanisms of elderly facing abuse.