Abstract
This introductory chapter puts the issue of elder abuse and mistreatment as a social, legal and public health problem which is being addressed by various mechanisms and agencies in different countries of the world by referring to contributions made by international experts across the globe, but from selected countries. Classified as physical abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, financial abuse or exploitation, neglect, sexual abuse and self-neglect, elder abuse and mistreatment are now a recognizable serious concern in many parts of the world requiring responses from a legal, health, human rights and societal perspective to prevent, detect and manage it. Certain countries have taken concrete steps to combat and deal with the problem while some are in the process of streamlining their responses with the help of research and knowledge derived from different quarters and disciplines. The editor in this chapter discusses the past and latest developments in the field of study of elder abuse and mistreatment by giving her own observations and perspectives which provide a background for contributions to this volume and take the reader to reflect on various dimensions of this serious problem affecting all societies in both developed and developing world. The victims and perpetrators of elder abuse and mistreatment coming from families, institutions and community are seen to belong to both sexes, from all sections of the society irrespective of economic position, religious, ethnic affiliation and other divisions in society. The universal problem of elder abuse and mistreatment increasingly affecting ageing and aged societies is treated here as an issue requiring urgent attention and solution to combat it and reduce its incidence and prevalence.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Burston, G.R. 1975. Granny battering. British Medical Journal 3 (6): 592.
Daichman, L, O. Guido, S. Aguas, and M. Bertone. 2001. Report on Elder Abuse in Argentina, WHO/INPEA.
Eastman, Mervyn. 1984. Old age abuse. London: Age Concern England.
Herring, Jonathan. 2012. Elder abuse: A human rights agenda for the future. In Beyond elder law, ed. I. Doron and A.M. Soden. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
Kurrle, Susan. 2003. The systems of prevention and detection of abuse in Australia. In Symposists’ Papers, Invited Symposia on Elder Abuse, Executive Editor, Toshio Tatara. Tokyo International Forum, Japan.
Kurst-Swanger, Karel, and Jacqueline L. Petcosky. 2003. Elder abuse. In Violence in the home. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Machado, Laura. 2001. National Report on Elder Abuse in Brazil, WHO/INPEA.
Novak, M. 1997. Aging and society: A Canadian perspective, 3rd ed. Toronto: ITP Nelson.
O’Keeffe, M., A. Hills, M. Doyle, C. McCreadie, S. Scholes, R. Constantine, et al. 2007. UK study of abuse and neglect of older people. Prevalence survey report. London: King’s College London (KCL) and National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).
Penhale, B., and J. Parker. 2008. Working with vulnerable adults. London: Routledge.
Podnieks, E., K. Pillemer, J. Nicholson, T. Shillington, and A. Frizzel. 1990. National survey on abuse of the elderly in Canada. Toronto, ON: Ryerson Poly Technical Institute.
Second World Assembly on Ageing. 2002. Plan of Action and Political Declaration, Madrid, Spain.
Shankardass, Mala Kapur. 2010. Elder abuse and adult protection. In Ageing and health in India, ed. C. Shanthi Johnson and S. Irudaya Rajan. Rawat Publications.
Shankardass, Mala Kapur. 2013. Addressing elder abuse: review of societal responses in India and selected Asian countries. International Psychogeriatrics, 1–6. International Psychogeriatric Association.
United Nations. 2009a. UN General Assembly, Follow-Up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing G.A. Res. 63/151, U.N. Doc. A/63/424 (Feb 11, 2009) http://www.worldlii.org/int/other/UNGARsn/2008/197.pdf (Follow-Up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing). Taken from Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 C. Martin et al., Human Rights of Older People, Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice 45, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7185-6_2.
United Nations. 2009b. U.N. General Assembly, Social Development: Report of the Third Committee, at 10, U.N. Doc. A/64/432 (Dec 1, 2009) http://www.copac.coop/iyc/a-64-432-excerpt.pdf.
United Nations. 2010. U.N. Secretary-General, Report on the Follow-Up to the Tenth Anniversary of the International Year of the Family, U.N. Doc. A/64/134 (Feb 1, 2010). http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N09/402/16/PDF/N0940216.pdf?OpenElement.
United Nations. 2016. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2016/06/on-world-day-ban-calls-for-ending-elder-abuse-as-a-pathway-towards-global-goals.
United Nations. 2018. www.un.org/en/elderabuse/background.shtml.
WHO. 2002. ‘Abuse of the Elderly’ in World Report on Violence and Health, World Health Organization, Geneva.
WHO. 2018. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/elder-abuse.
WHO/INPEA. 2002. Missing voices views of older persons on elder abuse. Geneva: World Health Organization. WHO/NMH/VIP/02.1 WHO/NMH/NPH/02.2.
Yon, Y., C.R. Mikton, Z.D. Gassoumis, and K.H. Wilber. 2017. Elder abuse prevalence in community settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Global Health 5 (2): e147–e156. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28104184.
Yon, Y., M. Ramiro-Gonzalez, C. Mikton, M. Huber, and D. Sethi. 2018. The prevalence of elder abuse in institutional settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European Journal of Public Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29878101.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shankardass, M.K. (2020). Perspectives on Elder Abuse and Mistreatment from Selected Countries and Regions: A Preamble. In: Shankardass, M. (eds) International Handbook of Elder Abuse and Mistreatment. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8610-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8610-7_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-8609-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-8610-7
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)