Elder abuse – resource for community workers

Recognising, preventing and responding to abuse of older people living in the community: A resource for community care workers is a briefing been prepared by the Department of Social Work at The University of Melbourne in partnership with The Benevolent Society. Its aim is to distill evidence from research to guide care workers and managers in their day-to-day work with older people living in the community.

Abuse of an older person is defined by the World Health Organisation as any behaviour that causes physical, psychological, financial or social harm to an older person occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust between the older person and the abuser. International estimates of the prevalence of abuse vary between two and a half percent to six percent of older people over 65 living in the community