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Elder Mistreatment and Abuse

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Geriatric Medicine

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Abstract

Elder abuse remains an insidious global phenomenon that has historically been underrecognized by healthcare professionals and is likely to have worsened in prevalence and severity during the COVID19 pandemic. It spans physical abuse, psychological and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial exploitation, and neglect, with more than one form of mistreatment often occurring simultaneously (polyvictimization). A person-centered perspective integrates several principles beyond simply identifying the older adult victim’s medical and psychological comorbidities. Clinical and ethical controversies and dilemmas include identifying which tools and overarching guidelines to use during evaluation and decision-making, mitigating potential conflicts between respect for the autonomy of victims and reporting and safety requirements, and clarifying what constitutes a “successful” intervention for both victim and perpetrator. Several practical considerations and strategies for individual providers and multidisciplinary teams are reviewed with respect to the evolving body of literature supporting a person-centered approach across care settings.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Family Medicine and Geriatrics, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Laura Mosqueda

  2. Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center and the Housing for Health Program, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Seyed Parham Khalili

Authors
  1. Laura Mosqueda
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  2. Seyed Parham Khalili
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura Mosqueda .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. California Association of Long Term Care Medicine, Newbury Park, CA, USA

    Michael R. Wasserman

  2. Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Debra Bakerjian

  3. Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Aurora, CO, USA

    Sunny Linnebur

  4. Division of Geriatrics, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Sharon Brangman

  5. Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Matteo Cesari

  6. Section of Geriatric Medicine, Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai, Beverly Hills, CA, USA

    Sonja Rosen

Section Editor information

  1. Section of Geriatric Medicine, Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai, Beverly Hills, CA, USA

    Sonja Rosen MD

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Mosqueda, L., Khalili, S.P. (2024). Elder Mistreatment and Abuse. In: Wasserman, M.R., Bakerjian, D., Linnebur, S., Brangman, S., Cesari, M., Rosen, S. (eds) Geriatric Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74720-6_95

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74720-6_95

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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