The Physical Abuse of Older Adults: The Impact of the Carer's Gender, Level of Abuse Indicators, and Training on Decision Making

This study examined the influence of occupation, training, caregiver's gender, and level of abuse on decision making in relation to physical abuse. Two hundred sixty-three social workers and managers and 432 care assistants participated. Participants read vignettes depicting possible physical abuse and completed a questionnaire with two subscales, ‘Formal Action’ and ‘Assess.’ Caregiver's gender and level of abuse indicators were manipulated. Results indicate that practitioners would endorse formal action if they had received training, the caregiver was male and a higher level of abuse was presented. Implications of these findings for the identification of elder abuse and early decision making are discussed.