Dimensions of Violence against the Elderly and Health Conditions: a Population-based Study in Southern Brazil

Sheila Rubia Lindner,Eleonora D’Orsi,Carolina Carvalho Bolsoni,Elza Berger Salema Coelho

doi:10.17583/rasp.2019.4425

Sheila Rubia Lindner, Eleonora D’Orsi + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.17583/rasp.2019.4425

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of violence and its association with the health conditions of the elderly. The method used was a cross-sectional study with 1140 elderly individuals aged 60 and older of both sexes interviewed in years 2013 and 2014 in Florianópolis, Brazil. The prevalence and dimensions of violence were measured using the Hawlek-Sengstock Elder Abuse Screening Test. To test the association of violence with health conditions, a bivariate and multivariate logistic regression model was applied; the analyzes were stratified by sex. A high prevalence of violence against the elderly (25,7%) was found, regarding the dimensions of violence, potential abuse (56,1% p = 0,039) and violation of personal rights or direct abuse (31,9% p = 0,012) was higher among males compared to females, while the vulnerability characteristics were higher in both sexes and did not present statistical difference between them (p = 0,857). We highlight the relevance of depressive symptoms among health conditions, which increased the chance of suffering violence about three times for both men and women. We hope that the evidence presented may support effective actions to prevent violence against the elderly.

Highlights

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of violence and its association with the health conditions of the elderly
Half (43.3%) were widows and most men were married (82.5%). Both income and years of schooling were higher among men. It is worth mentioning the high prevalence of elderly people who reported two or more morbidities, representing 67.5% in men and more than 80% among women; these are more affected by the difficulty in performing four or more daily life activities (31.5%) and cognitive impairment (25.5%) when compared to men
We further demonstrated that men suffer more violence in situations related to financial conditions, while women suffer more in situations related to vulnerability in the item “feeling of sadness and loneliness”

Summary

Introduction

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of violence and its association with the health conditions of the elderly. Se encontró una alta prevalencia de violencia contra los ancianos (25,7%) en relación con las dimensiones de la violencia, el abuso potencial (56,1% p = 0,039) y la violación de los derechos personales o el abuso directo (31,9% p = 0,012) fue mayor entre los hombres en comparación con las mujeres, mientras que las características de vulnerabilidad fueron mayores en ambos sexos y no presentaron diferencias estadísticas entre ellos (p = 0,857). A study conducted in Nepal (Yadav and Paudel, 2016) estimated the prevalence of violence against the elderly at 49.1%; in Peru, Silva-Fhon et al (2015) found that 79.9% of the elderly had suffered some type of violence; among these, 40.1% was psychological, 13.3% physical and 53.1% financial. In Brazil, research from surveys of violence against the elderly identified that most were women (65.2%) aged 60-69 years (50.9%), retired (73.2%) and with elementary school education level (66.1%) (Aguiar, Leite, Dias, Mattos, and Lima, 2015)

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