Paerns of Abuse among Older Adults in General Outpaents Clinic of UATH Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Elder abuse refers to any intenonal act or neglect that causes harm or distress to an older adult. It affects a significant number of older adults globally and can occur in homes, nursing homes, or assisted living facilies. Abuse can be financial, physical, emoonal, or even take the form of neglect. The consequences of elder abuse are usually devastang and may affect the individual's quality of life. This study sets out to assess the abuse among older adults aending the General Outpaent Clinic and its relaonship to social support.
Methods: It was a cross-seconal study of 259 parcipants. The Elder Abuse Suspicion Index (EASI) was used to assess for abuse among the parcipants. It is a validated tool developed specifically to help primary care physicians detect vicms of elder abuse. The Oslo Social Support Scale-3 (OSSS-3) was used to assess social support among the parcipants. It provides a brief measure of social funconing and covers different levvels of social support.
Results: At the end of the study, 7.7% of the parcipants relied on caregivers for their basic acvies of daily living, and less than half (37.7%) of the parcipants had emoonal abuse, though it accounted for the highest form of abuse. Physical abuse was reported in 19% of our study parcipants, while 10.1% experienced financial abuse. Only 2.7% complained of neglect. There was a significant associaon between social support and emoonal abuse (chi-square 13.79, p=0.001) and financial abuse (Chi-square = 11.39, p = 0.003), suggesng that the level of social support is correlated with these forms of abuse.
Conclusion: The consequence of elder abuse is severe and can result in psychological trauma. A muldisciplinary approach is needed in the management of abuse in older persons. It is important to raise awareness, provide social support, and implement prevenve measures to combat this menace and ensure the well-being and dignity of older adults.