Abstract
Objectives: To identify predictive factors for elder mistreatment (EM) related to older adults and their primary caregivers and the relationship between healthcare professional training and identification of EM.
Methods: This was a quantitative and analytic study. Potential risk factors for EM related to 40 older adults and their caregivers were collected through observation by 12 healthcare professionals and in a visiting nurses association. Training of healthcare professionals on EM identification was investigated. Descriptive statistics, Fisher's exact test, and multilevel regression analysis were used to investigate the relationships between the occurrence of EM and older adults and caregiver-related risk factors, and the predictive factors for EM.
Results: The older adults' dependency on caregivers and primary caregivers' chronic health conditions predicted EM. The risk factors the primary caregivers posed tended to affect EM more than the dependency older adults posed. The number of EM training the participants attended, their knowledge of who is responsible for reporting EM, the type of older adults' primary caregivers, and caregivers' chronic health condition were the correlating factors affecting EM.
Conclusion: Victims' and perpetrators' descriptions of EM are difficult to gauge; therefore, the broader screening of healthcare professionals' views is recommended. Future nursing research should explore indirect interventions, such as manipulating the risk factors primary caregivers pose, to decrease the occurrence of EM. A subsequent study testing Path prediction models within a bigger and more controlled sample are also warranted.