Predictors of Risk of Violence in Autonomous Elderly People

Abstract

Abstract

The purpose of this study it was understand the relation between elderly population sociodemographic characteristics and risk predictors of violence against this population, in order to identify the major risk predictors, promoting a theoretical basis to future preventing acting lines. There was participated 500 elderly people aged 65-93 and integrated in community without severe cognitive compromised or high levels of dependency , under the ESACAS’s project “Ageing in safely in Alentejo – Understanding to act”, at the University of Évora. Through a quantitative approach, the Scale of Evaluation of the Risk of Violence against Non-institutionalized Elderly People (ARVINI) was applied. It was verified that 40.1 per cent of the elderly feels alone, 17 per cent reveals that a familiar person yelled or offended them, which 46.6 per cent frequently feels anxious and 40.4 per cent feels irritated.  About the significant results in the relation between study variables it was found that the major predictors are: be woman, be married or widow, have low scholarity, have low income and live with their children. The major conclusion of the study is that factors like poor network support, a complex family context, cognitive/emotional difficulties of their own or caregivers and financial abuse, greatly contributes to physical and psychological  elderly vulnerability, acting like predictors or risk factors for violent situations.

Keywords: Aging; Elder abuse; Risk management; Health promotion