Abuse of the Elderly in Denmark and Sweden:

During October 1987, the National Swedish Institute of Statistics conducted a telephone interview of 943 men and women between the ages of 18 and 74 years about elder abuse. In Denmark, the Danish National Institute of Statistics carried out a similar survey of 1,535 men and women, 16 years and over. The representative samples of individuals were asked whether they knew about specific cases of older persons in their community or among their acquaintances who had been battered, threatened, economically exploited, robbed, or severely neglected. In both Sweden and Denmark, 8 percent of the respondents reported knowled e of a case of mistreatment that had taken place within the prece 8 mg 12 months. The perpetrators were unknown persons, family members, and various types of care providers (e.g., home helpers, etc.). In Sweden, perpetrators Din e2n0m parekrc ietn wt oafs 6th ep ecracseenst .w Tehreis i nd itfhfeer "ensctea fmf"ig chatt ebgeo 7 u,e wtoh etrheea fsa icnt that a larger proportion of the home helpers in Denmark receive formal training. One conclusion from the survey results is that the "staff" category of perpetrators cannot be excluded from consideration when studying abuse in the "families" of the elderly.