Elder abuse an international perspective: exploring the context of elder abuse

Abstract

The understanding of elder abuse and neglect, also called elder mistreatment, is at an interesting juncture, both empirically and conceptually. Since 2000 there has been a significant growth in prevalence studies, including major studies from the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Finland, Canada, and the United States, with further studies planned in India and Hong Kong (see, for instance, Pillemer and Finkelhor, 1988; McDonald et al., 1991; Comijs et al., 1995; Penhale, 2008; Biggs et al., 2009; Goergen et al., 2009; Lowenstein et al., 2009; Naughton et al. 2010). And while development is still uneven, there is now a World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, held in June every year, with a network of grassroots support in a wide number of countries. At the International Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics in Bologna, Italy (held on 14–17 April 2011, see http://iaggbologna2011.com), there were, for the first time, six symposia devoted to the topic, and in the Netherlands, a country with some of the first internationally recognized studies, the Leyden Academy in 2011 called the inaugural meeting of an international working group to critically consider interdisciplinary responses to this area of increasing professional concern.