Violence against older adults: multidimensional perspective

Santos, Ana João

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.18/5928

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Authors

Santos, Ana João

Advisor(s)

Ribeiro, Oscar

Nunes, Baltazar

Abstract(s)

The first theoretical reference to violence against older adults appeared in 1975, firstly described as “Granny battering”. Since then, the field has dealt with controversy over concepts, definitions and theoretical models used to describe and conceptualise the problem. The difficulties of the fields conceptual development can be partly attributed to the multidimensionality of the construct. Violence against older adults can be defined and categorised according to different dimensions (e.g., abuse types, victim, perpetrator and context), and its theoretical and conceptual development has coexisted with the difficulty of including the various categories of each of these dimensions (and the range of possible presentations) in conceptualisations sufficiently objective for its operationalization and, consequently, for its empirical validation. This thesis recognises that multidimensionality is an essential feature for understanding violence against older adults, since victimisation experiences are characterised, defined and understood within the interplay of abusive behaviours, victims, perpetrators and contexts. Bearing these assumptions in mind, the thesis presents a series of studies that aimed to describe the multidimensionality of violence within community dwelling older adults and to provide a more complex representation of victimisation experiences in a description of configurations encompassing more than one of the problems’ dimensions. First a brief review of the research history and the fields conceptual development is presented, including the multidimensional perspective (chapter I and II). It follows the study empirical work that involves a secondary analysis of data from the Ageing and Violence research project. This was a project that took place between 2011 and 2014, and was conducted by the National Heath Institute Doutor Ricardo Jorge. In the study presented in chapter IV, we determined the impact of employing two different measures to evaluate psychological violence and reflect whether family dynamics is being included within the prevalence of this form of violence. Chapter V includes two studies. The first is a contribution to the validation of two short versions of the Geriatric Depression Scale, both of which have shown to be an appropriate instrument to measure depressive symptoms in old age. The second study proposes an in-depth analysis of the relationship between depressive symptoms and violence, by examining its association with both the individuals’ characteristics and distinct violence dimensions. In chapter VI we describe the main evoked emotions and feelings of community-dwelling older adults who have experienced violence and explore the association between these emotions and individual and distinct violence dimensions. The following two studies (chapter VII) sought to describe and characterise multidimensionality of violence against older adults. The first uses latent class analysis to categorise violence occurrence into subgroups considering two of the problems dimensions - abusive behaviours and appointed perpetrators. The second study is a qualitative study on the narratives and perceptions of self-reported victims. The relationship between victim and abusive individual is considered the key element based upon which we examine the ageing process and the interplay with violence occurrence. Overall, the findings from the different studies suggest: (i) violence against older adults is a construct that encompasses distinct phenomena (Intimate Partner Violence grown old and neglect) sharing common features; (ii) violence against older adults is best characterised by considering different dimensions (e.g., context dyad victim-perpetrator, abusive behaviours and severity); (iii) the dyad victim-perpetrator is one of the most important dimensions, followed by severity and type of abusive behaviours; (iv) the interplay of these different dimensions helps apprehend the nature and dynamics of different elder abuse configurations. In chapter VIII (contribution to the thesis in the form of a chapter of the book manual entitled “Manual sobre “Vítimas de crime e violência: Práticas de intervenção” [Victims of Crime and Violence: Intervention Practices]), we recognise the difficulty of developing a single intervention and, through a case study, we reflect on the importance of the nature of the relationship between victim and abusive individual for the responses´ appropriateness. Altogether, these studies advance new knowledge on violence against community-dwelling older adults, providing important clues to victimisation configurations-types to which practitioners can tailor specific responses, creating more comprehensive and, hopefully, more effective interventions.