Elder Abuse is a social issue which affects the Health and Human Rights of a huge number of older persons around the world, and an occurrence which deserves the attention of the whole international community.
The World Elder Abuse Awareness Day happens each year on June 15th and represents the one day in the year when the community raises the attention on the abuse and suffering inflicted to some of our older generations, a group claiming for attention during these pandemic times and beyond.
According to research, elder abuse is a widespread phenomenon, but also largely under-reported. Indeed, one of the major barriers to progress in the field is underreporting of elder abuse by victims.[1]
Screening for elder abuse might help to identify cases in an early stage and to provide support as appropriate, however the use of screening tools is still rare across the European Union.
The Erasmus+ Save project brings together organisations from Poland, Italy, Finland, Portugal and Cyprus to promote screening practices, striving to promote an early identification of abuse.
Save project partners want to celebrate this day and act together to challenge elder abuse in health and social care settings through the provision of a comprehensive screening programme. We invite all professionals from the health and social care sector to join the training opportunities offered by the project to develop new knowledge and skills on how to screen for elder abuse.
#WEAAD2022 #RightsDoNotGetOld #elderabuse #saveeuproject
NOTES TO EDITOR:
The SAVE project is implemented by a consortium, coordinated by PCG Polska (Poland) and involving Anziani e non solo, Cadiai (Italy), Osk VoiVa. (Finland), two academic institutions: University of Minho, in Portugal and the Cyprus University of Technology.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of research until 2015 (Yon, Mikton, Gassoumis, Wilber, 2017), it was found that the prevalence of elderly mistreatment worldwide that included 28 countries globally, showed that in communities, almost one in six older persons 60 years or over had been victims of emotional, physical, sexual and financial violence and neglect over the past year. The average prevalence rate globally in communities was 15,7%. There were geographical differences globally, which in Europe were between 2,2% to 61,1%. For Europe, the estimated prevalence rate was 15,4%.
Save project is funded by the Erasmus Plus programme under the Grant Agreement number 2020-1-PL01-KA202-081643
[1] Fraga Dominguez, S., Storey, J. E., & Glorney, E. (2021). Help-seeking behavior in victims of elder abuse: A systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 22(3), 466-480.
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