Abuse of Older People with Dementia by Carers

Background 6 1. Current Legislation 7 Chapter 2: The concept of dementia 8 2. Definition of dementia 8 2. Age discrimination and Ageism 9 2. Types of dementia 9 Chapter 3 Elder abuse 10 3. Therefore, this paper looked at various ways of reducing abuse through the provision of adequate training, support, legal protection and ongoing supervision. This research also considered the implication of social work practice in eradicating abuse through a partnership with healthcare institutions and continuous professional development. Introduction Older people with dementia are at higher risks of suffering different forms of abuse such as verbal, financial, neglect, physical or psychological. This is attributed to the patient's loss of capacity, communication challenges, cognitive impairment and increased dependence on their carers. In most cases, carers’ abuse older adults due to high levels of stress and inability to cope with it, lack of knowledge about this disorder, lack of support and counseling and depression (Kosberg & Garcia, 2013).

p. Research shows that by the year 2021 the cases of elder abuse will reach an approximate of 10 million victims. This research paper aims at evaluating three key areas related to the topic. The first chapter will seek to cover the current policies and legislation. It will explain how various government policies have been initiated and implemented over the years in the United Kingdom to reduce the occurrences of elder abuse (Mowlam et al. To have a better grasp on this issue I decided to look widely as a national issue. For quite some time, researchers have focused on only stating specific interventions. However, this research focused majorly on understanding and creating awareness on this subject matter. This paper focused on answering the question “what we know and what we can do” to reduce elder abuse.

The research looked at relevant government papers and legislation to evaluate some of their recommendations that can protect vulnerable adults. However, the available research highlighted the key issues such as institutional abuse, mental health, residential care, dementia, elder abuse and community care that were less likely to be inconsistent or biased. Due to prior knowledge on this matter, my perspective and inputs did not influence the findings of this research Chapter 1: Policies, procedures, and legislation 1. Background Over the years, legislation and laws related to elder abuse suffering from dementia have evolved. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, various legislations and policies were initiated that focused on institutional care in community services. However, in 1990, the government introduced the NHS and community act that laid more emphasis in community care with the aim of promoting respect, removing discrimination, person-centered care that offers private and dignified services and promotion of good health (Lowenstein et al.

Section 47 of this act obliges the local authorities to conduct an assessment of older people and take measures to stop any form of mistreatment (Powell, 2014, p. However, detection of this abuse is difficult as it depends on the authorities’ ability to recognize abuse and whether the patient is willing to disclose. In the year 1993, the government published "No longer afraid" guidelines that sought to address elder abuse in a domestic setting. This guideline was limited to specific type of abuses mainly physical and did not recognize others like financial and psychological and the effects they had on older people who have dementia. To address these issues, the government published a policy of "No secrets" in the year 2000 (Powell, 2014, p. It stipulates that decision makers must go through a series of considerations before deciding the "best interests" of an individual without capacity (Powell, 2014, p.

These considerations include, the person's wishes, values, beliefs, and feelings. Most importantly the act introduced the criminal offense of neglect and ill-treatment of person who lacks capacity. Therefore, all these policies and legislation continue to remain relevant and are applicable in reducing and handling cases of elder abuse. However, more legislation is required to keep up with the changes in the society, family, and institutional settings. Elder people with mild, moderate dementia recorded a percentage of 36-53% for those living home will 35% of those with high-level needs lived at homes with support from carers (De Donder et al. p. Age discrimination and Ageism The issue of ageism and age discrimination remains of huge concern and as it has contributed to elder abuse.

For instance, most older people at one time in their lives experience age discrimination with regard to access to social and healthcare, financial services, social security among others (Kosberg & Garcia, 2013). Most people view the older people as a problem or burden to them. During the mild stage, old people may lose memory, abstract reasoning dysfunction and attention. In the second stage of moderate, it is characterized by language deficit such as apraxia and aphasia. In the severe stage, a person is reduced to a vegetative state with speech becoming repetitive, non-communicative and non-fluent. In most cases, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia may remain undetected or undiagnosed until moderate or severe symptoms appear. This delay in recognition occurs due to difficulty in recognizing early dementia symptoms, confused with symptoms of normal aging and use of inadequate screening tools (Bennett & Kingston, 2013, p.

This research showed that different elder abuse percentages in all the categories of abuse. For instance, psychological abuse was 34%, physical 19%. Neglect 12%, sexual 3% and financial 20% (De Donder et al. p. The largest population of these abuses was mostly carried out in homes. Ways of combating elder abuse Various research findings suggest different ways of intervention that focus both on the carer and patient in reducing the occurrence of abuse. For instance, there has been the development of treatment strategies that has focused on carer including anger management, stress reduction techniques, dealing with alcohol and drug abuse, and counseling (McKhann et al. p. There is need to reduce the carer burden through increasing day care and home care services to eliminate chances of abuse.

Also, it is important to undertake an anger management and education programme for those who have ever been perpetrators of abuse. Due changes in demographics, increased aging population, older have been left to live alone in our communities. This situation prompted my urge to raise awareness of the potential abuses, neglect, and exploitations that older people undergone mostly those suffering from dementia. This research paper majorly focused on the current legislation and policies, the concept and definition of dementia and its effects on social workers in relation to eradicating elder abuse. To mitigate this problem, evidence-based practices are vital in professional decision making by social workers (McKhann et al. It is evident from the above discussion that caring for older people with dementia can be very demanding.

W. Elder abuse: Concepts, theories, and interventions. Springer Cooper, C. Selwood, A. Blanchard, M. Lang, G. Santos, A. J. Tamutiene, I. Koivusilta, M. L. Elder abuse: International and cross-cultural perspectives. Routledge. Lowenstein, A. Eisikovits, Z. McKhann, G. M. Knopman, D. S. Chertkow, H. Manly, J. J. Mayeux, R. and Mohs, R. C.