Screening for elder abuse: guidelines for professionals
Screening is a key priority in public health systems.
In health care terms, violence screening refers to a measure that professionals use to identify individuals who are experiencing violence and to exclude (screened) individuals who are not experiencing violence.
The concept of violence screening has been partially detached from scientific criteria based on public health, as people who experience violence are also encountered in other services, such as social services. In particular, due to the lack of monitoring of questions about violence, it has not been possible to demonstrate that asking questions would result, for example, in an improvement in the health of a person experiencing violence.
However, using screening instruments for identification of elder abuse is still rare in European countries. Therefore, the countries participating in the SAVE project were engaged in piloting the use of screening/systematic questioning in different to gain experience in the use of screening tools and their usefulness in various services for older persons.
Lessons learnt, recommendations and results from the piloting have then been summarised in a European and national reports, together with guidelines for other professionals and organizations willing to use screening tools to identify cases of elder abuse.
The reports are available for download from: https://www.projectsave.eu/results/
Free e-learning course still available for enrollment
Would you like to learn why and how screening for elder abuse without leaving your desk? The SAVE e-learning course for professionals is still open for registration.
It is a comprehensive self-paced online programme about:
- Introduction to elder abuse: prevalence, signs and symptoms
- screening for elder abuse
- how to screen
- Challenges of working with elder victims of abuse
The training is available in English, Polish, Italian, Finnish, Portuguese and Greek from: https://www.projectsave.eu/training/
Newsletter 4, January 2023
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