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Respect Aging: Preventing Violence against Older Persons

This session focuses on recognizing and preventing violence against older persons. It covers risk factors, root causes, self-understanding for violence prevention, safety planning, and self-care. It also explores the concept of "elder abuse" and ageist attitudes, as well as the principles of violence prevention and everyone's responsibility.

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Respect Aging: Preventing Violence against Older Persons

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  1. Respect Aging:Preventing Violence against Older Persons 1.RECOGNITION • 2. PREVENTION • 3. INTERVENTION Violence Prevention Initiative

  2. In this session • Risk factors and protective factors • Root causes of violence • Self-understanding for violence prevention • Safety planning • Self-care for helpers

  3. Recap • Violence definition • “Violence against older persons”

  4. Why not call it “elder abuse”? • Abuse is only one part of the continuum of violence • Ageist attitudes • Aboriginal perspective

  5. Violence prevention principles • Right to safe, secure environment • Rooted in inequality • Expressed through the “isms” • Violence is a choice • Violence is preventable • Everyone’s responsibility

  6. Protective factors Risk factors • Personal and health-related • Environmental • Relationship • Societal

  7. Protective factors Risk factors • Personal and health-related • Environmental • Relationship • Societal

  8. Violence against older persons • Cycle of family violence • Intimate partner violence • Devaluing and marginalization • Isolation = limited access to resources

  9. Control tactics • Physical violence • Humiliation, jealousy • Creating dependency • Isolation; watching • Minimizing violence • Threats

  10. Power and control tactics used by perpetrators

  11. Perceptions of power

  12. Suggestions for helpers • Be aware of power imbalances • Acknowledge differences in power • Provide information • See older person as active participant in safety planning • Offer choices

  13. Restoring power and control to the older person • Empowerment through: • Information • Awareness of options • Awareness of choices • Involvement in safety planning

  14. Tools • Power and Control Wheel • Advocacy and Empowerment Wheel

  15. VIOLENCE SEXUAL Forcing sexual acts or behaviours without consent PHYSICAL Using physical force which results in pain or injury EMOTIONAL Specific demeaning tactics such as making threats, intimidation PSYCHOLOGICAL Ongoing controlling behaviour; isolation POWER AND CONTROL VERBAL Using language to hurt or shame: yelling, lying, insulting SPIRITUAL Not permitting religious observance of person’s choice CULTURAL Ignoring or ridiculing cultural traditions NEGLECT Failing to meet the needs of the older person FINANCIAL Stealing money; taking over bank accounts or possessions without permission ABUSE

  16. BELIEVE AND VALIDATE Listen to and believe the older person. Acknowledge feelings and emphasize that she/he is not alone. RESPECT AUTONOMY Respect the older person’s right to make decisions about her/his own life. She/he is the expert in her/his own life. ACKNOWLEDGE INJUSTICE The violence perpetrated against the older person is not her/his fault. No one deserves to be harmed. ADVOCACY & EMPOWERMENT HELP WITH SAFETY PLANNING Help the older person develop a safety plan. Work out a place to go if she/he needs to escape. PROVIDE INFORMATION Provide the older person with information and options so she or he can make choices. RESPECT CONFIDENTIALITY Meet with the older person privately, without caregivers or family members present. This is essential in building trust and ensuring safety. RESPECT TRUST

  17. Preventing family violence • Complex social problem • Requires holistic approach including: • education • raising awareness • developing social and life skills • involving individuals, families and communities

  18. 1. Healthy relationships 6. Communication 2. Self-esteem Preventing family violence 5. Understanding family violence 3. Appreciating differences 4. Personal safety

  19. Self-understanding Effective helping depends onself-understanding because how we makea difference in the world is linked towho we are as human beings…

  20. Self-understanding • Increase self-awareness; consider who you are as a human being in terms of the factors or dimensions in the previous slide. • Reflect on your assumptions, judgments and any stereotypes you might be holding

  21. Safety planning • A process in which an older person and a trusted helper work together to ensure the older person’s safety in advance of any crisis.

  22. Five strategies for safety planning • Prevention • Protection • Notification • Referral • Emotional support

  23. 1. Prevention • Preventing future violence

  24. 2. Protection • Looking at ways older persons can protect themselves during a violent incident

  25. 3. Notification • Arranging ways to get help in a crisis

  26. 4. Referral • Finding services that can help

  27. 5. Emotional support • Finding emotional support and ways to become less isolated

  28. Safety planning is NOT… • Telling the older person what to do • Making referrals • Imposing your values • Talking to the perpetrator • Recommending risky strategies • About blaming

  29. Helper safety Before you go: • Call ahead • Cell phone • Inform others • Don’t go alone • Know the area, bring a map • Carry only what you need

  30. Helper safety During a visit: • Do not enter if uneasy • Ask driver to wait • Give cell number to driver • Stay near exit door • Check for weapons • Leave if threatened • Shout “Fire!”

  31. Self-care for helpers STRESS  burnout, vicarious trauma

  32. Recognizing stress • Changes in: • How you see yourself and the world • Your emotional beliefs and needs • Self-care and behaviour • Relationships • Beliefs about spirituality, meaning, purpose

  33. ABCs of healthy self-care Awareness Balance Connection

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