Elder Maltreatment Among Rural African-Americans

Elder maltreatment, an unfortunate manifestation of the graying of our nation's population, has been well documented during the last decade; but, a clear definition or understanding of the phenomenon has not been forthcoming. This lack of clarity is particularly evident among older African-Americans and especially among this minority group in rural communities. This paper describes an exploratory study of 10 reportedly abused African-American elders and the suspected perpetrators of that abuse which examines the nature of the abuse and the essence of their relationships. Extensive interviews were conducted with the alleged victims and perpetrators who resided in three rural eastern North Carolina counties. Particular attention was directed to the ideation of the interviewees. Latent content analysis of the data revealed the emergence ofeight themes, which are presented in the context of rural social service delivery concerns.