Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Why “growing old” is becoming a burden nowadays? Elderly abuse is the silent evil of any society, gradually making it hollow.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) it can be described as, “a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate act, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.”

This abuse constitutes physical, sexual, psychological and emotional aspects. Apart from this financial abuse, abandonment, neglect and loss of dignity and respect of an individual; comes under the paradigm of elder abuse.

Statistics have shown that 1 in 6, within the age group of 60-90, have experienced some form of abuse in the last year. Surprisingly, the rate of elder abuse is much higher in nursing homes and care-giving centers, than in individual homes. The rate at which elder abuse has increased during COVID-19, is extremely shocking.

It’s a growing concern because many countries have a rapidly ageing population. Therefore, even if the number of abuse victims remains constant, then too, the global number of victims will increase due to the ageing population. As mentioned by WHO, “the global population of people 60 years and more will increase to 2 billion by 2050″.

It can have severe repercussions like premature mortality, physical injuries, depression, cognitive decline, and financial devastation. Such consequences of abuse can be worse, because in such an age, recovery is a long-drawn process.

The glaring problem faced by the elderly is when an older couple is asked to live separately. This facilitates the other phenomena, individual characteristics, which in turn makes an individual more vulnerable to abuse.

Other risk factors could be; community and societal factors, which might include ageism against the older people of the community, for example, normalizing mistreatment of parents. Having said that, these are region- specific factors.

Historical texts have perceived and suggested Indians to be the familial beings, but according to the report presented by International Network for Prevention of Elder Abuse, 2016, it turns out to be a myth. As the report mentions India as the leading Asian country when it comes to elder abuse and exploitation.

Furthermore, some of the prominent strategies to prevent elder abuse include the caregiver interventions as the services would relieve or balance the burden of caregiving.

We have seen that financial exploitation and elder abuse often goes hand in hand, as in several cases abuser financially dependent upon the victim. Thus, money management programs would help such older individuals.

Finally, the accessibility and availability of emergency shelters or helpline numbers can help prevent this abuse, with an SOS mechanism one could reach out to, in the dire circumstances. This is highly subjective because it varies from country to country.

The foremost strategy to prevent any crime from happening is to acknowledge that it exists and have existed, so that measures could be taken accordingly. Unfortunately, this acknowledgment is last on our priority list.

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