Monday, February 09, 2009

Half of Family Caregivers Admit Abusing Loved Ones with Dementia: Study

I don't know where this article came from originally, I found it on caregivercompanion.com

Half of Family Caregivers Admit Abusing Loved Ones with Dementia: Study

Half the family caregivers surveyed admitted abusing their family member with dementia, and a third reported “significant” levels of abuse, according to a British study that surprised experts by how common the abuse was.

While most of the abuse reported was verbal in nature, some of it was physical, researchers from University College London reported in the British Medical Journal.

"Many people think about elder abuse in terms of ‘lashing out’ and other similar acts, but abuse as defined by [British] government guidelines can be as simple as shouting or swearing at the person being cared for," said the study’s lead author, Dr. Claudia Cooper of the UCL Department of Mental Health Sciences.

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Cooper said one reason that abuse was found to be so common could be that family caring for a demented loved one often do so with little or no support, heightening the stress and anxiety levels.



The UCL researchers conducted a survey of 220 family caregivers of seniors with dementia who were newly referred to psychiatric services and living at home. A total of 115 (52.3%) of the caregivers reported some abusive behavior, such as very occasionally screaming or yelling, and 74 caregivers (33.6%) reported significant levels of abuse, such as more frequent insulting or swearing at the person for whom they care. Only 1.4% reported significant physical abuse.



“We found few cases of physical or frequent abuse, although those with the most abusive behavior may have been reluctant to report it, or take part in the study in the first place," Cooper noted.



Cooper and colleagues noted that physicians too often fail to inquire about any form of abuse when examining a dementia patient or talking with the patient’s family, and in doing so are missing an opportunity to help caregiver and patient alike.



“Healthcare professionals can be reluctant to ask about abuse by family caregivers, but this attitude can be very unhelpful to caregivers who are worried about their own actions and want to talk about them and get help,” said study co-author Professor Gill Livingston. “Considering elder abuse as a spectrum of behaviors rather than an ‘all or nothing’ phenomenon could help professionals to ask about it and therefore offer assistance."



This was the first representative survey to ask family caregivers about abusive acts, according to the authors. They said the findings suggest that any policy for safeguarding vulnerable adults must consider strategies directed towards families who provide the majority of care for older people, rather than exclusively at professional caregivers, who have been the focus of concern to this point.

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