Family abuse with older adults hospitalized and related factors in Hazrat Rasool Akram Hospital in Tehran in 2018

In recent years, elder abuse has been recognized as a growing social problem that needs to be addressed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the family abuse with older adults hospitalized and related factors in Hazrat Rasool Akram Hospital in Tehran in 2018.

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The sample of this study included 250 elderly people who were selected by convenience sampling from the elderly patients of Rasoul Akram Hospital in Tehran in 2018. Data were collected using the Elder Abuse Questionnaire (EAQ) and Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation test, t-test and chi-square by IBM SPSS software v.22.

The mean age of the elderly patients was 76.48. 9.55 years. 40.4% were male and 59.6% were female. 49.6% of the elderly with emotional neglect, 65.6% with care neglect, 41.2% with financial negligence, 46.8% with financial abuse, 50.4% with deprivation of authority, 42% with psychological abuse, 4/4% 30% had physical abuse and 33.2% had rejection, which did not differ significantly based on gender, education, and history of psychiatric illness. Age was directly related to the prevalence of elder abuse (P = 0.02, r = 0.14). Low income, marriage, living in a nursing home and higher care burden were associated with higher elder abuse (P< 0.05).

Elderly abuse is a common problem. Many related factors, such as income and residence, are adjustable. But it is necessary to pay more attention to many factors from the legal point of view and public education.