"Ocorrência de maus tratos em idosos no domicílio" / Occurrence of domestic elder abuse.

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2004

RESUMO

This study aimed to verify the occurrence of domestic elder abuse, surveying possible related factors, aggressors and injuries caused, in accordance with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD - 10). The sample consisted of 87 elderly persons from both genders, aged 60 or more, who live in Ribeirão Preto–SP, Brazil, filed a complaint at the Police Station and were subject to a medical-legal exam in 2002. We consulted medical-legal exam reports and used an instrument for data collection. Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics. Domestic abuse occurred more frequently among men (58.6%), at the average age of 75 years. 45.2% of the sample under analysis were married and 47.1% were attacked by family members, such as children, grandchildren, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law. Most of the elderly persons (57.4%) neither looked for medical care nor health services, while only 9.2% of the total sample were sent to hospital. With respect to the kinds of injuries incurred, 33.5%. manifested unspecified superficial shoulder and arm trauma, while 33.3% presented more than one kind of injury, such as multiple superficial traumas on the body. Elder abuse is becoming increasingly clear in society, which attributes a social and public health dimension to the phenomenon. More knowledge urgently needs to be obtained about this reality through the evaluation of detailed reports on the victims’ conditions and through systemized research, in order to prevent abuse situations in the family sphere, as well as to establish public policies to offer a family support structure, autonomy and independence to the elderly.

ASSUNTO(S)

violence idosos abuse violência home domicílio maus-tratos elderly

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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