| Myth #1: Abuse of older adults
generally occurs on dark streets by unknown perpetrators. |
Reality: Most substantiated cases of senior abuse are committed by people
that the individual knows, in
most cases it involves a spouse or other family member. Only one in five cases is
referred for help.
|
| Myth #2: Victims always despise
the abuser and want to report the abusive situation. |
Reality: Abusive situations
are complex. The older adult experiencing abuse or neglect can be torn between their
feelings for and concern about an individual (a spouse or a
child, for example) and knowing they are being mistreated or abused.
|
| Myth #3: No one would ever abuse
an older person. |
| Reality: Senior abuse exists in every
community. While we have very little reliable national data, it is
estimated that between 4 and 10 per cent of older persons in Canada are victims of some
form of abuse or neglect. There were over 4 million seniors
in Canada in 2004. This suggests that between 162,500 and 406,000
seniors in Canada have experienced or will experience abuse in later life.
|
| Myth #4: Senior abuse means the
same thing all across the country. There are only three categories of
abuse: Physical, Emotional, and Financial.
|
| Reality:
There many forms
of abuse, including these three.
Forms of abuse or neglect that are
crimes apply all across Canada. Other laws may also define
senior/adult abuse and the definitions can vary from province to
province, or territory to territory.
However, the following types of abuse are often
found in provincial laws: physical abuse, including acts of pain or
injury; emotional abuse; sexual assault; financial exploitation; and
neglect or self neglect.
Abuse or neglect of older adults can also occur
in institutions such as nursing homes, personal care homes or other
places where older adults live and receive support or assistance.
Abuse or neglect may include violation of the person's rights,
inappropriate use of restraints, unreasonable confinement, and
inappropriate use of medications to restrict the person's freedoms.
Rules and policies
seem to be neutral may also significantly harm older adults, and can
be abusive.
|
| Myth #5: Neglect occurs
out of ignorance of what an older adult needs.
|
Reality: While some situations of neglect may
be unintentional, due to a caregiver's ignorance of what an older
adult needs, a serious form of neglect is the intentional, willful failure of a family member or a caregiver to
provide needed services and/or protections.
|
| Myth #6: The risk of being abused
varies based upon a person's income level. |
Reality: Senior abuse cuts across all
socio-economic strata.
|
| Myth #7: Model prevention and
intervention solutions for child abuse can be replicated for senior
abuse.
|
| Reality: Model prevention and intervention
solutions would not be applicable to both child abuse and senior abuse
because there are basic differences between the two forms of abuse.
Children and adults differ in their level of competency, level of
privacy and right to autonomy. As a result, using the same models to
address both forms of abuse would not make sense.
|
| Myth #8: As people age, they
lose the ability to make choices, such as financial decisions. |
| Reality: Most older adults are fully
capable of making choices.
Mental decline in older adults, if and when it occurs, is much milder than most people
think. Some older adults may process information slower than a young
adult, but the difference is often modest and can be offset by the
older person's experience.
Adults with severe cognitive disabilities may
require greater support, but this does not preclude their right to
participate actively in decisions affecting their lives.
|
| Myth #9: Older adults and young
adults respond similarly to abuse. |
| Reality: Older victims are more likely to be
injured, more likely to need medical attention, and more likely to
lose trust than younger victims.
Some older adults (particularly older women who are being abused by
their husband) have been living with abuse for many years and as a
result are dealing with the cumulative effect of years of harm. This
can significantly hurt them physically and emotionally.
|
| Myth #10: Children who abuse aging
parents were likely to have been abused themselves. |
| Reality: Some research has suggested a cycle
of violence where children who have been abused grow up to be abusers
themselves, but a few studies suggest that child abuse is likely to
produce adults who abuse their children and/or spouses-not their
parents. |
| Myth #11: Passing laws to protect
older adults will solve the problem of senior abuse. |
| Reality: People
on all levels who interact with older adults need to be aware of abuse in later life. This may
involve providing more resources for community services working with
older adults, enforcing existing laws, and training
law enforcement and health professionals.
Passing new laws may or may not be needed.
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