TÄHÄN KUVA

Mira Koivusilta | Nordic Congress on Gerontology | Reykjavik | 2 June 2010 1

• TÄHÄN KUVA

ABUSE AND VIOLENCE AGAINST OLDER WOMEN:

PREVALENCE AND QUALITY OF LIFE

Luoma Minna-Liisa,

De Donder Liesbeth, Lang Gert ,Tamutiene Ilona,

Ferreira Alves José, Perttu Sirkka, Penhale Bridget

20/04/23 2

Prevalence study of Abuse and Violence against Older Women AVOW

Research project that aimed to–conduct prevalence research on violence against older women in the home setting,–demonstrate patterns of violence and,–develop a tool for harmonized and comparable surveying.

20/04/23 3Minna-Liisa Luoma | IFA2012 30 May 2012

Prevalence study of Abuse and Violence against Older Women AVOW

• Partners:–National Institute for Health and Welfare (Finland) (coordinator)–Research Institute of the Red Cross (Austria)–Vrije Universiteit Brussels (Belgium)–Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania)–University of Minho (Portugal)

• Daphne III programme funding (EU)

• 2 years: April 2009 to April 2011


Research questions

1. What is the prevalence rate of domestic violence and abuse against older women?

2. Are there patterns of violence and abuse against older women?

3. Who are the perpetrators?4. Which older women are at higher risk for violence and abuse? Which

risk factors are most important in explaining the occurrence of elder abuse?

5. What are the individual consequences on quality of life

Minna-Liisa Luoma | IFA2012 30 May 2012

Types of elder abuse

– Physical

– Psychological

– Sexual

– Financial

– Neglect

– Violation of personal rights

Methodology

• Questionnaire– Standard questions + national questions– QOL The EUROHIS QOL –Scale

• Sample– Older women, living at home– Aged between 60 and 97– Data gathered in 2010

• Statistical methods– T-test was used to measure differences on quality of

life between abused and non abused elderly.

Number of respondents Data collection

Austria 593 Telephone

Belgium 436 Postal + additional face to face (75+)

Finland 687 Postal

Lithuania 515 Face to face

Portugal 649 Postal

Total 2880 /

Methodology

%

Austria 23.8

Belgium 32.0

Finland 24.7

Lithuania 21.8

Portugal 39.4

Total 28.1

Results: Overall abuse

Results: Types of abuse

Perpetrators

• In most cases, perpetrators of emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse and violation of rights were the women’s partners or spouses.

• The exception to this was in relation to neglect, where in most cases older women were abused by their adult children or children-in-law.


Intensity of violence

• 7.6% of older women had experienced one single form of abuse, but infrequently.

• 13.5% had experienced several forms of abuse, but infrequently.

• 1.2% had experienced one single form of abuse very often.

• 5.8% had experienced multiple forms of abuse very often.


Results: Quality of life

• Subjective assessment by using The EUROHIS QOL

– Subjective health – Ability to perform “daily living activities”– Satisfaction about themselves– Financial situation– Social relationships– Condition of living space


Quality of Life and Types of Abuse

14

Neglect Emotional abuse

Financial abuse

Physical abuse

Sexual abuse

Violation of right

Overallabuse

No 3.74 (0.67)* 3.80 (0.68)*3.72

(0.68)*

3.72

(0.68)*

3.72

(0.69)*

3.73

(0.68)*

3.80

(0.67)*

Yes 3.00 (0.67)* 3.50 (0.61)*3.00

(0.78)*

3.00

(0.78)*

3.30

(0.81)*

3.27

(0.74)*

3.49

(0.70)*

Finnish population based reference value 3,90 (0,25)


After abuse

• Most common effects of violence and abuse were tension, anger, hatred and feelings of powerlessness.

• Nearly half of the abused women (44.7%) talked about the most serious incident with somebody they knew or reported it to an official agency.

• In Portugal and Lithuania, however, only a quarter of the abused women talked about the incident with anyone else.

• The majority of older women talked with nobody about the abusive incidents. Mostly women thought the incident was too trivial or that nobody could do anything about it.


04/20/23 Mira Koivusilta 16

Lessons learned• Policy: Development of guidelines, risk mapping tools

and screening instruments can facilitate coordinate action against the abuse of older women and should be initiated on EU level.

• Practice: raise awareness about elder abuse: prevalence rates are high and more than half of the mistreated women do not report or talk about the incident.

• Adequate assessment tools and routine inquiry about violence and abuse are needed.

• Increase disclosure and detection: Information about existing interventions for abuse, the services offered and about the rights of older victims should be made widely available.


Lessons learned… II

• Improve the efficiency of the interventions:

• The multifaceted nature of abuse must be considered in the development of case management approaches.

• Importance of tackling partner violence in later life should be highlighted.

• Older adults should be included in the development of appropriate responses to abuse.


For more information

• www.thl.fi/avow

• Methods: literature reviews mapping the existing research and both postal surveys and personal-visit interviews.

The study was funded by EU’s Daphne III programme.


Minna-Liisa Luoma | IFA2012 30 May 2012 20

Thank you!

[email protected]/avow

TÄHÄN KUVA

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