Aging Neglect

In the U.S, one in four will be aged 60 years and older by 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau). This represents an overwhelming number of people who will either be in the caretaker role or be the ROC. Like today, most of the care will be provided by informal unpaid caregivers. The number of informal unpaid caregivers is expected to rise from 20 million in 2000 to 37 million in 2050 (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation [ASPE], 2003). Because of the burden of care giving, many caregivers will experience depression, poor health and quality of life (Etters, Goodall, & Harrison, 2008). Their well-being is an important public health concern.

On the physical side, loneliness can cause seniors to engage in unhealthy behaviors. For example, some seniors turn to alcohol to escape the feeling of loneliness or to help ease the pain of grief. Some feel empty, and excess food becomes the way to fill that emptiness. Others spend more time indoors and avoid physical activities. This lack of exercise can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, and other issues. On the mental side, loneliness can have major effects as well. For example, according to a study published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, older adults who suffer from loneliness have a 64% greater risk of dementia. Dementia, a general term for loss of memory and other mental abilities, is one of the leading causes of death for older people. Another effect of loneliness is depression, a serious mood disorder with suicide as a possible outcome. Lonely seniors who have been sad for a long time are at a high risk of depression. As can be seen, feeling loneliness hurts, and it hurts even more when people don’t have anyone to share it

The issue of elder abuse and neglect is a significant health care issue, that need to be brought to the attention of society. Seniors who stay at home or in nursing homes are at more risk. Nurses should be aware of the signs and symptoms as well as resources in the community. By having a better understanding of these issues, nurses can recognize problems and help prevent the devastating effects of elderly abuse.

Self-neglect in the elderly is an important public health issue. It occurs more frequently than any other form of abuse or neglect and is expected to become even more prevalent as baby boomers retire and government appointed resources for the elderly decrease (MacLeod & Douthit, 2015). Elder self-neglect is a social justice issue that involves internal factors such as the health of the older adult and external factors such as access to necessary resources. For nurses to become a part of preventing

To conclude, the final form of abuse is neglect. Neglect is defined by the U.S. Department of Health as failure to provide, by those responsible for care, custody, and control of the child, failure to provide the proper or necessary support, education required by law, nutrition or medical, surgical, or any other care necessary for the child’s well-being. Neglect is the leading cause of child abuse and covers a broad range of acts that are seen as child maltreatment. Neglect can be in the form of physical, emotional/ psychological, medical or education. Many of these seem to overlap other forms of abuse but can be distinguished when clearly defined. Neglect is the failure to provide, causing it to be more indirect than physical or sexual abuse.

Social isolation can be a major health problem for many older adults (Dickens, Richards, Greaves, & Campbell, 2011). Social isolation involves, individuals lacking social connections and engagement with others (Nicholson, 2012). Depression in elderly populations has become more prevalent with the aging population (Pittock, 2012). Depression has negative effects on many facets of an elderly persons life, including quality of life and functional abilities (Ell, 2006). Depression rates in those 65+ living alone has been found to be between 1% - 4% (Mojtabai & Olfson, 2004). A recent meta-analysis found, those with strong social networks had a 50% reduction in the

Later adulthood is the time in life when changes in marriage, families, and peer relationships are affected the most by the loss of someone close to that person. “Most people 70 years of age or older are widowed, divorced, or single” (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2010, p.619). Losing a spouse or close friend can create a sense of loneliness, which causes depression, anxiety and the emptiness feeling can become overwhelming. Depression also leads to psychological effects that will deteriorate a person’s health causing the chance for a terminal disease to become much higher. The weaker appearance of older adults causes family and remaining peers to step up in the role of making sure the person’s wellbeing is being met. (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2010). Living accommodations and healthcare needs

As people become older, there are a variety of things that decline with them as they grow older. Many older adults begin to become more dependent rather than independent. Many older adults become hostile when they realized that they have to rely on others to care for them. Over the years, older adults tend to neglect themselves in various ways. Older adults often forget about their medications, become depressed, and the use alcohol or abuse drugs to cope. Self neglect is a known issue in older adults. Elder self neglect is commonly known to be life threatening. According to the article Elder Self-Neglect, it states that the Public Policy Institute of AARP roughly calculates between 40% to 50% of cases reported to the Adult Protective Service involves self neglect. (“Elder Self Neglect”, 2010). http://elder.findlaw.com/elder-abuse/elder-self-neglect.html

Despite the medical advances, the debilitating conditions associated with aging have remained, are and expected to exist among the growing elderly population in the future. (Williams, 2003). Family members, most of which who are women, are the providers of direct care to and aging older adult. With a growing population of elderly that becomes increasingly dependent as a result of the natural life process, there has been focused attention of the social well-being for caregivers of the elderly.

Research suggests that it is important for elderly individuals to be empowered as long as possible in order to decrease their dependency on those around them. Typical symptoms of powerlessness are apathy, depression with an emphasis toward chronic illness, expression of no control over a situation, non-participation, and passivity (Meddaugh and Peterson). These symptoms may eventually block successful cooperation among care givers and family members. Positive health promotion can enable the elderly to increase their sense of control over and ability

This type of neglect may involve a “deliberate withdrawal of health services, food or other necessities” (Meadows, 200, p.88). In some ways older people seem like the perfect targets for abuse, due to their relative weakness. Active neglect may be utilized for exploitation purposes, like trying “to cash in on a life insurance policy” (Meadows, 2010, p.88). Caring for elders that are very ill or incapacitated can be daunting and become burdensome. This is when a situation may spiral out of control and lead to a passive neglect situation. Today, with the increase in life span, it only widens the opportunity for an increase in elderly victimization (Meadows, 2010). This victimization is not limited to family caregivers, it also includes institutions.

Hi Adrianne, I agree with your post, which defined very well concerning physical abuse. It is heart wrenching to know that someone finds pleasure in abusing the helpless or the vulnerable population. Elderly abuse has been found in more forms one in particularly is physical. I work at a hospital and we do not have to guess where some elderly come from because of the soaked wet diapers, the patient’s yelling and screaming, bedsores, and poor hygiene. Many elderly adults are abused in their own homes, in relatives’ homes, and even in facilities responsible for their care. According to NIH (2017), many older people are victims of elder abuse. It is the mistreatment of an older person, usually by a caregiver. It can happen within the family. It

I am highly touched and encouraged by your experience with the elderly and enthusiasm that you demonstrate in doing it. We honestly need people like you with open mind heart to provide care and service befitting senior citizen. Like you said, it is very disheartening to hear reports of abuse and the stereotypical behaviors towards the aged at places that are supposedly meant to provide excellent care and proper treatment. There are numerous contributing factors to this inhumane treatment of the elderly. Abuse of elders takes many different forms, some involving intimidation or threats against the elderly, some involving neglect, and others involving financial trickery. However, I see here is nothing more than what Berger (2010) described

We often see children that we wonder what could be wrong with that child, instead of wondering what happened to that child and how could we help. We live in a world where there are so many children falling through the cracks of our legal system. We have children that are abused and neglected on a daily basis, with no clear understanding of why this is happening. Could it be that the parents might have also been abused or neglected or both?

As we get older, our social connections often gets smaller, only having things or people that are extremely important to us. In this paper we will be examining the social-psychological problems; social isolation and loneliness that are faced by elderly by facilitating the response to five main discussion topics. The following discussion will facilitate the understanding of social isolation and loneliness, the risk factors, explore the prevalence of social isolation and loneliness in long term care facilities and the role of occupational therapist assistants and physiotherapist assistants have this emerging issue of social isolation.