Older persons affected by violence and abuse

BACKGROUND

Violence and abuse of older persons has partially emerged from its taboo area in recent years, which has resulted in increased debates about the definition of violence. Comprehensive definitions range from discrimination based on age, age-related limitations and vulnerability to loneliness and social isolation through to criminally relevant experiences of violence among older people and their avoidance in various settings. “Elder abuse, neglect and maltreatment”, as circumscribed in the anglo-saxon context, is still an area characterized by a dearth of research interest and restricted research data on the topic. The risk of experiencing at least one of the different forms of violence is likely to increase with age, but also with regard to gender, dependency and other intersectional factors. This may be a pragmatic reason why surveys are often limited to certain target groups, settings or forms of violence. The challenge therefore remains to operationalize a comprehensive concept of violence for a representative sample of society, drawing on international theoretical models and examples from practice to realize such surveys in a meaningful way.