BJSW Advance Access originally published online on March 23, 2007
British Journal of Social Work 2007 37(3):491-514; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcm022
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Violence Across the Lifespan: Interconnections Among Forms of Abuse as Described by Marginalized Canadian Elders and their Care-givers
Christine A. Walsh is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Calgary. Her research interests include the examination of violence across the lifespan, child maltreatment, intimate partner violence and elder abuse, and participatory action research and community-based research with populations affected by issues of poverty or violence.
Jenny Ploeg is an Associate Professor at the School of Nursing of McMaster University. Her research interests include qualitative and quantitative research related to high-risk elderly persons and their care-givers. Dr Ploeg holds a CIHR/St Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton investigator award.
Lynne Lohfeld is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University, as well as a faculty member in the Program for Educational Research and Development (PERD), and an associate member of the Department of Family Medicine and the School of Geography and Life Sciences, also at McMaster University. Her research interests include aging and health, qualitative research, community-based participatory action research, ethics and programme evaluation.
Jaclyn Horne is a Masters of Social Work student at the University of Calgary. Her research interest is in gerontology, with focuses on driving cessation, dementia, care-giver burden, long-term care seniors’ housing and elder abuse.
Dr Harriet MacMillan—a member of the Offord Centre for Child Studies—is a psychiatrist and pediatrician conducting research on the epidemiology of violence against children and women. She is a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, and Pediatrics at McMaster University and holds the David R. (Dan) Offord Chair in Child Studies.
Daniel Lai is Professor of Social Work and Alberta Heritage Health Scholar at the University of Calgary. His research interest is in gerontology and social work with older adults, with special focus on health, well-being and culture in the aging population. He was the Social Policy and Practice Section Editor of the Canadian Journal on Aging. Currently, Daniel is also on the Institute Advisory Board of the Institute of Aging of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Correspondence to Christine A. Walsh, PhD, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4. E-mail: cwalsh{at}ucalgary.ca
Elder abuse is recognized as a major problem, with profound effects on the health and quality of life of older persons. In our aging population, elder abuse represents an escalating clinical issue for social workers and health care professionals who provide care to older people. A major gap in our examination of elder abuse is the potential contribution and application of knowledge developed within research derived from other forms of family violence. This paper explores the interconnections among various forms of violence across the lifespan, and the experiences voiced by marginalized elders and their care providers. We interviewed seventy-seven rarely consulted older adults and forty-three formal and informal care-givers of older adults in focus groups in Ontario and Alberta, Canada. Study findings revealed four major themes that describe interconnections among types of abuse: (i) intergenerational cycles of abuse; (ii) violence across the lifespan; (iii) exposure to multiple subtypes of elder abuse; and (iv) ongoing spouse abuse that shifted into elder abuse. The results from this study indicate that victims often ‘suffer in silence’ and cultural factors, ageism and gender are ubiquitous to elder abuse. Recommendations to reduce elder abuse include education, formal and informal supports and services.
Keywords: aging, elder abuse, marginalized elders, family violence