Abuse of the elderly in nursing homes : a scoping review

Elder abuse has massive consequences to the health, social and economic aspects of both the victims and the community in which they live. It is also an important issue in public health, with statistics showing that the prevalence rate globally was 15.7% in the past year. Despite recent efforts to understand the causes and consequences of the problem, elder abuse research is at its infancy, especially in the institutions, in comparison, for instance, to other research on other forms of interpersonal violence. The present proposal is developed with the aim of looking at elderly abuse in nursing homes. To fulfill this aim, the study focuses on some key objectives. First is to determine the risk factors that influence nursing abuse in elder care homes and the second is to find out ways for curbing nursing abuse in elderly care homes. A scoping review was used to fulfill the research process. Thirteen (13) studies were included in the studies, and they were read intensively for its quality and to know if they were good enough for the studies. Each publication was reviewed carefully against the criteria for inclusion of the studies. Findings affirmed the existence of five forms of elder abuse ranging from financial, physical, psychological, and sexual to neglect. The study also revealed some elderly people abuse risk factors, such as the individual risk factors, relationship, institutional, socio-cultural and environmental factors. Additionally, key findings established that elder abuse can be curbed through the use of multidisciplinary teams, helplines, caregiver interventions, and education, as well as training