Abstract
Elder abuse is an emerging issue of serious concern with life-threatening consequences. This study aimed to develop and assess the validity and reliability of a new scale to assess elder abuse. A cross-sectional multistage sampling technique was used to obtain a nationally representative sample of older Malaysians. The iterative development process resulted in a 16-item, four-dimension scale. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a 10-item scale with three factors. The value of Cronbach’s alpha for total scale and its subscales indicated sufficient internal consistency. Multitrait scaling analysis also showed good convergent and discriminant validity. Furthermore, predictive validity of the proposed scale was established by demonstrating a statistically significant association between elder abuse and depression through multiple logistic regression analysis. The findings from this study demonstrate an acceptable level of validity and reliability for new scale. This scale can be used by health and social care workers to identify elder abuse cases.
Highlights
Elder abuse, that is significantly associated with an almost 2 - 3 times increased odds of death, even after controlling for other possible causes of mortality [1,2,3], is an emerging issue of serious concern with devastating effects and life-threatening consequences
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “ there is no systematic collection of statistics or prevalent studies in the developing world, crime records, journalistic reports, social welfare records and small scale studies contain evidence that abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of elders are much more common than societies admit” [5]
Data for this study were obtained from the National Survey of “Perception, Awareness and Risk Factors of Elder Abuse”, which was conducted throughout Peninsular Malaysia from December 2006 to May 2009
Summary
That is significantly associated with an almost 2 - 3 times increased odds of death, even after controlling for other possible causes of mortality [1,2,3], is an emerging issue of serious concern with devastating effects and life-threatening consequences. Review of the elder abuse literature reveals that assessment of elder abuse has been hampered by a lack of well-validated and reliable scale [11]. In some cultures sending elderly individuals to nursing homes is considered as a form of abuse, whereas other cultures define it as a sign of caring [14]. Based on these considerations, the present study aimed to develop and validate a new scale for assessing elder abuse among community dwelling elderly people in the cultural context of Malaysia
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