Main objective
This survey will study the different possible factors that contribute to why elderly people do not report or seek assistance when subjected to violence
Method
The study builds upon similar studies done on different ethnic groups in the USA and several other countries in both Asia and Europe. The results from the Norwegian survey will be compared to the results from some of these other surveys.
The Norwegian study will use a postal survey model on a selection of 1000 members from the Senior Citizens Association, this in comparison to the other studies that used face to face interviews on a smaller sample of 50- 100 people.
In addition to the postal survey, personal interviews will be conducted on a small group of 7 senior citizens. During these interviews, which have the same questions as the postal survey, participants will have the opportunity to comment and elaborate on their answers with additional comments.
Further information
Violence and abuse towards the elderly is one of the most hidden and least accessible forms of violence. Very few incidences of this type of violence are registered by the police, other protective services or are represented in official statistics. In surveys of the general population this type of violence is also underrepresented. However, more specialized surveys and clinical experience have shown that this group is significantly more subjected to violence then what official registries and statistics indicate. It is therefore important to acquire more knowledge about the possible causes as to why this type of violence is underreported.
Possible factors that contribute to why elderly people do not report or seek assistance when subjected to violence:
- Do they not define these acts as abusive or violent, but believe that this is type of behavior towards the elderly is acceptable?
- Do they feel that their right to autonomy is in conflict with and has to yield to other more practical considerations?
- Are they not aware of elder abuse, or do they have unrealistic concepts of the prevalence or severity of the problem?
- Do they feel that elder abuse has to be tolerated, either because of considerations towards the perpetrator or do they feel that the victim deserves to be abused?
- Do they feel that abuse is a private matter and that they do not wish to disclose this to others or want others to interfere?