Comic Relief funded study into elderly abuse
Methodology and report (extract)
http://assets.comicrelief.com/cr09/docs/older_people_abuse_report.pdf
5.2 Barriers to taking action
The decision to take action was not always an easy one for older people and there was a
range of factors and barriers that influenced either the type of action taken by respondents
and whether they reported the mistreatment or abuse or took any other action at all.
The identified barriers relate to:
• the limitations on taking action placed on the older person by the nature of their personal circumstances and the abusive situation;
• concerns about the potential effect of action taken (on the respondent, the perpetrator,
significant others, or in aggravating the abusive situation);
• older people’s understanding of the role and remit of agencies and perceptions about
their capacity to take effective action on the older person’s behalf.
The first and second of these are discussed below.
Barriers relating to the involvement of
agencies in taking action are dealt with in section 5.4.
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5.2.1 Limitations of the older person’s circumstances
One set of barriers to reporting or taking action against mistreatment or abuse related to
the personal circumstances of the older person. Specifically, these were:
• low self-confidence and self-esteem
• experience of bereavement
• physical frailty
Low self-confidence and self-esteem
The emotional state of the respondent, their confidence and self-esteem, appeared to be
important for whether or not they felt able to take action. This was sometimes itself an
impact of the mistreatment or abuse they had experienced. For example, respondents
talked about a loss of confidence after making a misjudgement, for example, after having
their savings plundered by a partner or befriending someone who stole money from them.
These respondents did eventually take action although the decision to do so was not
straightforward for them and often required encouragement or guidance from other people,
such as family and friends.
Experience of bereavement
Where older people had recently been bereaved, this also affected the extent to which they
felt able to take action. Those who had lost their partner described not having anyone with
whom to talk through their decision to take action and others were reluctant to add to the
stress of bereavement by undertaking action.
Physical frailty
Respondents’ physical frailty was a further barrier to reporting mistreatment or abuse and
older people were particularly unwilling to invite confrontation if they felt they would be
unable to defend themselves. People also referred to specific illness or incapacity at the
time of the abuse that prevented them from taking action.
Perception of seriousness
Sometimes respondents felt an incident was insufficiently serious to warrant taking action,
or at least taking formal action. One respondent, for example, said he did not inform the
police about the theft of money by his grandson because it involved relatively small sums
and therefore was not serious enough.
5.2.2 Concerns about the effect of taking action
As well as the limitations placed on older people by the nature of their circumstances,
further barriers to taking action were evident that related to their concerns over the potential
impact of taking action, not only on their own situation but others’.
These concerns
included:
• fear of isolation
• fear of being seen to be ‘making a fuss’
• fear of being blamed.
• embarrassment
• the wellbeing of the respondent’s family and significant others
• the health and wellbeing of the perpetrator
• fear of exacerbating the abuse.
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Fear of isolation
Older people expressed fears that reporting mistreatment or abuse could lead to separation
from their partner or estrangement from other family members, and cause them to become
isolated.
In other cases, respondents were concerned that taking action could alienate
others who were close to the perpetrator, for example other members of the respondent’s
family or friends.
Fear of being seen to be ‘making a fuss’
There was also evidence of anxiety among respondents about how they would be seen by
others if they did take action. For example, even where the respondent felt affected by the
abuse, they feared others would not think it was sufficiently serious to warrant action and
described not wanting to ‘make a fuss’.
Concerns about being blamed
Others were worried that they themselves would be blamed for the abusive situation.
One
respondent, for example, suffered ongoing and serious psychological abuse from her
husband but feared involving the council in case she lost the right to live in her home.
Embarrassment
Embarrassment about disclosing their experience could also be a factor in older people’s
reluctance to take action, especially where the abuse was sexual in nature.
The wellbeing of the respondent’s family and significant others
In addition to ensuring their own wellbeing, older people were keen to protect their families
and those close to them and this affected both their decision to take action and their
approach to doing so. One respondent, for example, did not wish to tell her children too
much about problems she was having with other family members in case they were
subjected to the same harassment as she had been.
The health and well-being of the perpetrator
Perhaps surprisingly, respondents were also aware of and worried about the effect of
taking action on the perpetrator, for example where the perpetrator was ill or temporarily
injured. This affected when the respondent felt able to take action though in all cases
where this was relevant the older person did eventually report the mistreatment or abuse.
Fear of exacerbating the abuse
Respondents were further concerned that any action taken did not further exacerbate the
abusive situation. In some cases this meant the respondent was reluctant to involve other
people for fear of making their situation worse.
For example, one respondent who was
physically abused by a friend, was concerned about involving the police in case it
aggravated the situation.
‘I didn’t report it to the police, no, I kept the police out of it…I just didn’t want
to, I didn’t want to cause any more animosity.’
