Minna-Liisa Luoma

European map of prevalence rates of elder abuse and its impact for future research

This article aims to map existing prevalence research on abuse and neglect of older people and to provide a critical overview of existing methodologies, which have been adopted to survey the prevalence rates of abuse against elders. This article is part of the prevalence study of Abuse and Violence against Older Women (AVOW) study, which was conducted in five European countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, and Portugal). The article provides an overview of the state of the art of prevalence data, survey designs and methods, instruments and results in Europe. Therefore, this draws on an extensive literature search and qualitative content analysis, which was conducted as an early part of the AVOW study. Results indicate that some EU countries have a rich history of prevalence research, whereas other countries have just begun to tackle this aspect of research on of elder abuse. One of the lacunae concerns reliable numbers on the prevalence rates of elder abuse. Research about where, when and how often elder abuse occurs, is inadequate and inconsistent. Data in some cases are based on professionals’ reports rather than on information from older people themselves. Surveying elders about such a sensitive topic, however, implies the need for an adequate research instrument (questionnaire) and research design, and an adapted data collection method. In conclusion, substantial attention is paid to outlining possible guidelines for future research.

Perpetrators of abuse against older women: a multi‐national study in Europe

Purpose – This article aims to explore the perpetrators of abuse among older women living in the community. The study examines whether differences between the perpetrators of different forms of abuse, and for different groups of older women (e.g. by income or age groups) can be detected. Finally, it aims to investigate whether older women talk about the abuse to family or friends, or report it to an official or formal agency, in relation to different perpetrators.Design/methodology/approach – This article provides results from the prevalence study of Abuse and Violence against Older Women in Europe (AVOW‐study). The study involved scientific partners from five EU countries: Finland, Austria, Belgium, Lithuania, and Portugal. In these five countries, the same study was conducted during 2010. In total, 2,880 older women living in the community were interviewed during the course of the study.Findings – The results indicate that 28.1per cent of older women across all countries have experienced some kind of vi...

Measuring older adults' abuse: evaluation of formative indicators to promote brevity

Some literature on elder abuse recommends, and practitioners claim, that there should be better assessment and screening tools. In order to improve the accuracy of measurement instruments, the purpose of this article is threefold: (a) describing the construction of an instrument with formative indicators and the survey design about the sensitive topic of elder abuse, (b) development of an analytic strategy to improve the precision of the measures by (c) evaluating the measurement instrument through quality criteria against outcomes of the instrument. We randomly selected 2,880 home-dwelling older women aged 60 and above from five European Union countries who participated in a survey on elder abuse. Prevalence data on abuse against older women was gathered using a postal (BE, FI, PT), face-to-face (BE, LT), and telephone survey (AT) but using an identical instrument. A table with outcome measures was calculated to evaluate the formative indicators of the measurement instrument, and a decision strategy for item reduction was developed. The results suggest that 12 (35%) of the original 34-indicators instrument can be omitted. The adapted version can provide the same elder abuse prevalence rates (reliability) with the same negative associations in terms of life quality (validity). The results indicate in an applied way how an elder abuse instrument can be evaluated and further developed using formative measures.

Item non-response when measuring elder abuse: influence of methodological choices

BACKGROUND Efficient actions to fight elder abuse are highly dependent on reliable dimensions of the phenomenon. Accurate measures are nevertheless difficult to achieve owing to the sensitivity of the topic. Different research endeavours indicate varying prevalence rates, which are explained by different research designs and definitions used, but little is known about measurement errors such as item non-responses and how outcomes are affected by modes of administration. METHODS A multi-national study was developed to measure domestic abuse against home-dwelling older women (aged >60 years) in Europe. The measurement instrument covered six forms of abuse, adapted from the Conflict Tactics Scale. 2880 individuals were interviewed by three different data collection methods (i.e. postal, face-to-face, telephone). RESULTS Principal component analysis of missing values of 34 indicators of abuse showed various patterns of item non-response. Moreover, principal component analysis indicated several response patterns across different types of data collection. A binary logistic regression explained that item non-response and abuse prevalence is influenced by individual characteristics (social status, vulnerability), method effects such as content (sensitivity), the order of the questions (forms of abuse), by type of data collection and the presence of assistance in survey completion. CONCLUSION The discussion revolves around how these findings could help improving measuring elder abuse. Advantages and disadvantages of the questionnaire and type of data collection methods are discussed in relation to three potential types of response errors: item positioning effect, acquiescence and social desirability.

Cultural services and activities: The association with self-rated health and quality of life

Background: Previous studies have shown that cultural participation has a positive effect on health and well-being. The aim of this study was to analyse how use of cultural services and participation in cultural activities is associated with self-rated health (SRH) and quality of life (QOL), using validated outcome measurements and key socio-demographic factors. Methods: The study data are drawn from the Regional Health and Well-being Study conducted in 2010 in Finland. (N = 31,000, response rate 48%). The data analysed in this paper consist of 11,905 respondents. Results: Logistic regression models adjusted for key socio-demographic factors showed that use of cultural services was associated with good SRH and good QOL. Also, associations were found between the practice of cultural activities and good SRH and QOL. However, the associations between activities and SRH and QOL were somewhat weaker. Conclusions: Use of cultural services and practicing cultural activities seem to have a positive association with SRH and QOL. Providing citizens with cultural services and activities can be seen as a silent social policy that has the potential to improve SRH and QOL. Further studies with a longitudinal design are needed to examine the causality.

Risk factors of severity of abuse against older women in the home setting: A multinational European study

ABSTRACT This article examines the ecological risk factors of abuse against older women. Data from 2,880 older women were randomly collected in five European countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, and Portugal) using a standardized questionnaire. Results indicate that overall 30.1 % older women had at least one experience of abuse in the past year. The findings demonstrate that a single emphasis on personal risk factors (e.g., health, coping) is important but too simple: Abuse is multifaceted and is embedded in environmental (e.g., loneliness, household income) as well as macrocultural contexts (e.g., old age dependency ratio).

Validity and Reliability of Finnish Version of WHOQOL-Bref on Adult Population in Finland

The aim of this paper is to determine the WHOQOL-Bref population norms and describe the psychometric properties of the Finnish WHOQOL-Bref in relation to construct validity, discriminatory power and internal consistency in the general population. The data is from the Finnish HYPA survey, which combines telephone and personal visits interviews. Telephone interviews and posted questionnaires and register-based data were used for 18-79 year olds and face to face interviews with register data at age group over 79 years olds. The Cronbachs alpha, confirmatory factor and regression analysis show that the internal consistency and validity of the two general questions, and physical and psychological domain to be sufficient for research and QoL measurement purposes. The internal consistency of the domains in the sample for the physical, psychological, social relationships and environmental domains were 0.83; 0.78; 0.69; 0.67 respectively measured by alpha. The internal consistency for total scale was 0.89 which was near excellent (> 0.90).

European map of prevalence rates on elder abuse and its impact for future research

Introduction WHO and the International Network of the Prevention of Elder Abuse have recognised the abuse of older people as a significant global problem. Notwithstanding this recognition, generally the issue of elder abuse does not emerge as a major theme in research nor in the work of policymakers. Method This research is part of the “prevalence study of Abuse and Violence against Older Women” (AVOW) which is funded by the EUs Daphne III programme. The AVOW-study aims to provide knowledge about the prevalence of abuse and violence against older women in five European countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania and Portugal). The first phase of the research consisted of providing an overview about the state of the art of prevalence research on elder abuse, survey designs and methods, instruments and results in all European countries. Therefore, an extensive literature search and qualitative content analysis was conducted. Results and Conclusion Some EU-countries have a rich history of prevalence research, whereas other countries have just begun to tackle the issue. One of the lacunae concerns reliable data on the prevalence of elder abuse. Research about where, when and how often elder abuse occurs, is largely inadequate and inconsistent. Surveying elders on such a sensitive topic, however, implies a modified questionnaire and an adapted data collection method. Conclusively, substantive attention is paid to develop possible guidelines for future research.