Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T17:31:31.810Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Abuse is in the eyes of the beholder: using multiple perspectives to evaluate elder mistreatment under round-the-clock foreign home carers in Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2010

LIAT AYALON
LIAT AYALON*
Affiliation:
Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
*
Address for correspondence: Liat Ayalon, School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900Israel. E-mail: ayalonl@mail.biu.ac.il
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The overall goal of the study reported in this paper was to examine differences in the perceived occurrence of abuse and neglect as between older care recipients, their family carers, and foreign home-care workers in Israel. Overall, 148 matched family members and foreign home-care workers and 75 care recipients completed a survey of abuse and neglect. Significant discrepancies in their reports of neglect were found, with the foreign home-care workers more likely to identify neglect (66%) than the older adults (27.7%) or their family members (29.5%). Although the rates of reported abuse ranged between 16.4 and 20.7 per cent and the differences were not statistically significant, the different parties assigned the responsibility for the abuse to different perpetrators. The independent variables that significantly associated with abuse and neglect also varied by the three groups of participants. The findings suggest that even with round-the-clock home care, the basic needs of many older adults are not met, and that many experience substantial abuse. The study emphasises the subjective nature of abuse and neglect, and suggests that more education about what constitutes elder abuse and neglect may lead to more accurate and consistent reports across reporting sources. Incorporating data from the various stakeholders may enhance the early identification of elder abuse and neglect.

Keywords

abuseneglectolder adultsglobalisationdomestic carelong-term careunmet needs
Type
Submitted Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 31 , Issue 3: Methodologies for Ageing Populations , April 2011 , pp. 499 - 520
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ayalon, L. 2009 a. Evaluating the working conditions and exposure to abuse of Filipino home care workers in Israel: characteristics and clinical correlates. International Psychogeriatrics, 21, 1, 40–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayalon, L. 2009 b. Family and family-like interactions in households with round-the-clock paid foreign carers in Israel. Ageing & Society, 29, 5, 671–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayalon, L. 2009 c. Fears come true: the experiences of older care recipients and their family members of live-in foreign home care workers. International Psychogeriatrics, 21, 779–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayalon, L. 2010. The perspectives of older care recipients, their family members, and their round the clock foreign home care workers regarding elder mistreatment. Aging and Mental Health, 14, 4, 411–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayalon, L., Kaniel, M. and Rosenberg, L. 2008. Social workers' perspectives on care arrangements between vulnerable elders and foreign home care workers: lessons from Israeli/Filipino caregiving arrangements. Home Health Care Services Quarterly, 27, 2, 121–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borowski, A. and Yanay, U. 1997. Temporary and illegal labour migration: the Israeli experience. International Migration, 35, 4, 495–511.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burns, D. D. and Sayers, S. 1988. Development and validation of a brief relationship satisfaction scale. 1. Cognitive and affective components of marital satisfaction. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Callahan, C. M., Unverzagt, F. W., Hui, S. L., Perkins, A. J. and Hendrie, H. C. 2002. Six-item screener to identify cognitive impairment among potential subjects for clinical research. Medical Care, 40, 9, 771–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, M., Levin, S., Gagin, R. and Friedman, G. 2007. Elder abuse: disparities between older people's disclosure of abuse, evident signs of abuse, and high risk of abuse. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 55, 8, 1224–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Compton, S. A., Flanagan, P. and Gregg, W. 1997. Elder abuse in people with dementia in Northern Ireland: prevalence and predictors in cases referred to a psychiatry of old age service. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 12, 6, 632–5.3.0.CO;2-9>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, C., Katona, C., Finne-Soveri, H., Topinkova, E., Carpenter, G. I. and Livingston, G. 2006. Indicators of elder abuse: a crossnational comparison of psychiatric morbidity and other determinants in the Ad-HOC study. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 14, 6, 489–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, C., Manela, M., Katona, C. and Livingston, G. 2008. Screening for elder abuse in dementia in the LASER-AD study: prevalence, correlates and validation of instruments. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23, 3, 283–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, C., Selwood, A. and Livingston, G. 2008. The prevalence of elder abuse and neglect: a systematic review. Age and Ageing, 37, 2, 151–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coyne, A. C., Reichman, W. E. and Berbig, L. J. 1993. The relationship between dementia and elder abuse. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 4, 643–6.Google ScholarPubMed
Cruz, F. A. de la, Padilla, G. V. and Butts, E. 1998. Validating a short acculturation scale for Filipino-Americans. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 10, 10, 453–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrenreich, B. and Hochschild, A. R. 2000. Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. Metropolitan Books, New York.Google Scholar
Eisikovits, Z., Winterstein, T. and Lowenstein, A. 2004. The National Survey on Elder Abuse and Neglect in Israel. University of Haifa and Eshel, Haifa, Israel. (In Hebrew)Google Scholar
Feldbaum, E. G. and Feldbaum, M. B. 1981. Caring for the elderly: who dislikes it least? Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 6, 1, 62–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E. and McHugh, P. R. 1975. ‘Mini-mental state’: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 3, 189–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fulmer, T., Guadagno, L., Bitondo Dyer, C. and Connolly, M. T. 2004. Progress in elder abuse screening and assessment instruments. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 52, 2, 297–304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fulmer, T., Paveza, G., VandeWeerd, C., Fairchild, S., Guadagno, L., Bolton-Blatt, M. and Norman, R. 2005. Dyadic vulnerability and risk profiling for elder neglect. The Gerontologist, 45, 4, 525–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gettman, H. J. and Gelfand, M. J. 2007. When the customer shouldn't be king: antecedents and consequences of sexual harassment by clients and customers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 3, 757–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heller, E. 2003. The treatment of older adults in Israel. In Haknesset: Research and Information Center (HRIC), Foreign Home Care Workers in Israel and Israeli Nursing Care Workers: Needs and Available Solutions. HRIC, Jerusalem, 1–97. (In Hebrew)Google Scholar
Homer, A. C. and Gilleard, C. 1990. Abuse of elderly people by their carers. British Medical Journal, 301, 6765, 1359–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keysor, J. J., Desai, T. and Mutran, E. J. 1999. Elders' preferences for care setting in short- and long-term disability scenarios. The Gerontologist, 39, 3, 334–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein-Zeevi, N. 2003. Foreign workers in Israel: current status. Haknesset: Research and Information Center (HRIC), Foreign Home Care Workers in Israel and Israeli Nursing Care Workers: Needs and Available Solutions. HRIC, Jerusalem, 1–10. (In Hebrew)Google Scholar
Lachs, M. S., Williams, C., O'Brien, S., Hurst, L. and Horwitz, R. 1997. Risk factors for reported elder abuse and neglect: a nine-year observational cohort study. The Gerontologist, 37, 4, 469–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lachs, M. S., Williams, C. S., O'Brien, S., Pillemer, K. A. and Charlson, M. E. 1998. The mortality of elder mistreatment. Journal of the American Medical Association, 280, 5, 428–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levkoff, S. E., Chen, H., Coakley, E., Herr, E. C. M., Oslin, D. W., Katz, I., Bartels, S. J., Maxwell, J., Olsen, E., Miles, K. M., Costantino, G. and Ware, J. H. 2004. Design and sample characteristics of the prism-e multisite randomized trial to improve behavioral health care for the elderly. Journal of Aging and Health, 16, 1, 3–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Logsdon, R. G., Gibbons, L. E., McCurry, S. M. and Teri, L. 2002. Assessing quality of life in older adults with cognitive impairment. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 3, 510–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matsuda, O. 2007. An assessment of the attitudes of potential caregivers toward the abuse of elderly persons with and without dementia. International Psychogeriatrics, 19, 5, 892–901.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matthias, R. E. and Benjamin, A. E. 2003. Abuse and neglect of clients in agency-based and consumer-directed home care. Health and Social Work, 28, 3, 174–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nathan, G. 2008. Examining the reform of foreign home care workers. Haknesset: Research and Information Center (HRIC), Foreign Home Care Workers in Israel and Israeli Nursing Care Workers: Needs and Available Solutions. HRIC, Jerusalem, 1–7. (In Hebrew)Google Scholar
National Research Council 2003. Elder mistreatment. abuse, neglect, and exploitation in an aging America. In Bonnie, R. J. and Wallace, R. B. (eds), Panel to Review Risk and Prevalence of Elder Abuse and Neglect. Committee on National Statistics and Committee on Law and Justice, Division of Behavioral and Social Science and Education, National Academies Press, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Neysmith, S. M. and Aronson, J. 1997. Working conditions in home care: negotiating race and class boundaries in gendered work. International Journal of Health Services, 27, 3, 479–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ogioni, L., Liperoti, R., Landi, F., Soldato, M., Bernabei, R. and Onder, G. 2007. Cross-sectional association between behavioral symptoms and potential elder abuse among subjects in home care in Italy: results from the Silvernet Study. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 15, 1, 70–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pillemer, K. and Finkelhor, D. 1988. The prevalence of elder abuse: a random sample survey. The Gerontologist, 28, 1, 51–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pillemer, K. A. and Wolf, R. S. (eds)1986. Elder Abuse: Conflict in the Family. Auburn House, Dover, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Pittaway, E. and Westhues, A. 1993. Prevalence of elder abuse and neglect of older adults who accessed health and social services in London, Ontario, Canada. Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect, 5, 1, 77–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raijman, R., Schammah-Gesser, S. and Kemp, A. 2003. International migration, domestic work, and care work: undocumented Latina migrants in Israel. Gender and Society, 17, 5, 727–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, M. H. and Killien, M. 1983. Risk and vulnerability: a case for differentiation. Advances in Nursing Science, 5, 3, 60–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salazar Parrenas, R. 2001. Servants of Globalization. Women, Migration, and Domestic Work. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.Google Scholar
Schulz, R., O'Brien, A. T., Bookwala, J. and Fleissner, K. 1995. Psychiatric and physical morbidity effects of dementia caregiving: prevalence, correlates, and causes. The Gerontologist, 35, 6, 771–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Selwood, A., Cooper, C. and Livingston, G. 2007. What is elder abuse? Who decides? International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22, 10, 1009–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sobell, L. C., Sobell, M. B., Leo, G. I., Cancilla, A. 1988. Reliability of a timeline method: assessing normal drinkers' reports of recent drinking and a comparative evaluation across several populations. Addiction, 83, 4, 393–402.Google Scholar
Teri, L., Truax, P., Logsdon, R., Uomoto, J., Zarit, S. and Vitaliano, P. P. 1992. Assessment of behavioral problems in dementia: the revised memory and behavior problems checklist. Psychology and Aging, 7, 4, 622–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vida, S., Monks, R. C. and Des Rosiers, P. 2002. Prevalence and correlates of elder abuse and neglect in a geriatric psychiatry service. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 47, 5, 459–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, J. J. 2005. Psychological abuse behavior exhibited by caregivers in the care of the elderly and correlated factors in long-term care facilities in Taiwan. Journal of Nursing Research, 13, 4, 271–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, J. J., Lin, J. N. and Lee, F. P. 2006. Psychologically abusive behavior by those caring for the elderly in a domestic context. Geriatric Nursing, 27, 5, 284–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisblay, E. 2005. Employing foreign workers in the nursing industry to work with older adults. In Haknesset: Research and Information Center (HRIC), Foreign Home Care Workers in Israel and Israeli Nursing Care Workers: Needs and Available Solutions. HRIC, Jerusalem, 1–8. (In Hebrew)Google Scholar
World Health Organization 1998. Mastering depression in primary care. Psychiatric Research Unit, World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe, Frederiksborg, Denmark.Google Scholar
Yeoh, B. S., Huang, S. and Gonzalez, J. 1999. Migrant female domestic workers: debating the economic, social and political impacts in Singapore. International Migration Review, 33, 1, 114–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed