Laura M. Nunes

Violence against the elderly: narrative of a case

Violence against the elderly is now recognized as a health problem, which compromises not only individual and family adjustment, but also the development of society. This violence is defined as “an intentional act or failure to act by a caregiver or another person in a relationship involving an expectation of trust that causes or a risk of harm to an older adult”.4 This definition is consistent with the 1995 proposed definition by the International Network for Prevention of Elderly Abuse (INPEA), which is generally adopted in most documents and manuals (cf. Portuguese Association for Victim Support, APAV, 2010) to define violence perpetrated against a person aged 60 or over.