Male Victims of Elder Abuse: Their Experiences and Needs (Violence and Abuse Series) PDF
Preview Male Victims of Elder Abuse: Their Experiences and Needs (Violence and Abuse Series)
Male Victims of Elder Abuse Violence and Abuse Series Thisnewseriesformsasetof accessiblebooksforpractitioners,managersand policymakersworkinginsocialandhealthcare,probationandcriminology.Each bookdrawsonakeypieceofresearchorcurrentpracticerelatingtoviolenceand abusetogivepracticalguidanceonnewwaysofworkingwithbothvictimsand perpetrators to bring about positive change. ofrelated interest Good Practice with Vulnerable Adults Edited by Jacki Pritchard ISBN 1 85302 892 3 Becoming a Trainer in Adult Abuse Work A Practical Guide Jacki Pritchard ISBN 1 85302 913 0 Working with Elder Abuse A Training Manual for Home Care, Residential and Day Care Staff Jacki Pritchard ISBN 1 85302 418 X The Abuse ofOlder People A Training Manual for Detection and Prevention, 2nd edition Jacki Pritchard Foreword by Eric Sainsbury ISBN 1 85302 305 1 Narrative Approaches to Working with Adult Male Survivors ofChild Sexual Abuse The Clients’, the Counsellor’s and the Researcher’s Story Kim Etherington ISBN 1 85302 818 5 Geronticide Killing the Elderly Mike Brogden ISBN 1 85302 709 X Male Victims of Elder Abuse Their Experiences and Needs Jacki Pritchard Jessica KingsleyPublishers London and Philadelphia All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use ofthis publication) without the written permission ofthe copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions ofthe Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms ofa licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1T 4LP. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part ofthis publication should be addressed to the publisher. Warning: The doing ofan unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. The right ofJacki Pritchard to be identified as author ofthis work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in the United Kingdom in 2001 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers 116 Pentonville Road London N1 9JB, UK and 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Copyright © Jacki Pritchard 2001 Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library ofCongress British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN-13: 978 1 85302 999 8 ISBN-10: 1 85302 999 8 ISBN pdfeBook: 1 84642 052 0 Printed and Bound in Great Britain by Athenaeum Press, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear Contents Acknowledgements 6 Introduction 7 1 Men: victims of abuse 17 2 Quantitative findings 26 3 In-depth interviews 40 4 Needs of male victims 58 5 Outcomes 90 6 Practice issues 95 7 Conclusion 100 References 105 Subject Index 108 Author Index 112 Acknowledgements Itisimportanttothankthethreesocialservicesdepartments who participated in the original project and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for funding the research. In addition, special thanks are due to the managers and workers within the day/resource centres, who were so supportiveinhelpingmetoworkwithmalevictimsandgive this important issue the recognition it deserves. Iamindebtedtotwopeoplewhosupportedmeduringthe original project and through this current work. First, Eric Sainsbury,whoonceagainhasbeeninvaluableinactingasmy ‘soundingboard’andreadingthedraftsofthisbook.Second, Melanie Whitehouse, whose patience seems infinite when transcribing tapes from interview. Finally,Iamverygratefultoallthemenwhohavespoken sowillinglytomeinfocusgroupsandininterview,because withouttheiropennessthisimportantworkcouldnothave been undertaken. Note TheJosephRowntreeFoundationhassupportedthisprojectaspartofits programmeofresearchandinnovativedevelopmentprojects,whichithopes willbeofvaluetopolicymakersandpractitioners.Thefactspresentedand viewsexpressedinthisbookare,however,thoseoftheauthorandnot necessarily those ofthe Foundation. Introduction Thisbookisaboutmenwhohavebeenabusedinlaterlife: they are victims of elder abuse. Some of them have also beenabusedinchildhoodorearlierinadulthood.Indeed, some may be said to have suffered a lifetime of abuse. Before discussing the life experiences and needs of these malevictims,itisnecessarytoconsiderelderabuseinmore generalterms,recognisingthatthisasubjectwhichtodate hasbeenlargelyignored,butisanessentialcontexttothe more specific problems associated with male victims. Elder abuse is not a new phenomenon; it has been aroundforcenturies,thoughwehaveoftenfailedtorefer to it in such terms. Shakespeare was writing about two malevictimsofelderabusewhenhewroteKingLear.The abuseof olderpeople iscertainlynotsomethingnewfor thetwenty-firstcenturyyetitisnotgiventhehighprofile whichitsincidencedeserves.Oneofthereasonsforthisis that in some societies older people are not given much respect; they may be seen as an economic burden on society because theyarenolongereconomicallyproduc- tive.Insocietieswhichemphasiseyouthfulvigour,oldage will tend to have a very negative image; consequently, youngerpeoplemaycometofeargrowingold.Becoming frail, disabled or incapacitated are typical stereotypes of older people despite the reality that being old can bring newexperiences andmanynewrewards.Anotherconse- quence of ageism is that if people do not want to think 7 8 MALEVICTIMSOFELDERABUSE abouttheinevitabilityofoldage,theymayavoidinteract- ingwitholdpeopleandalsoavoidwatching,listeningor reading about the ‘nasty things’ which can happen to an olderperson.Thus,elderabuseisfrequentlysweptunder thecarpet,bothbyprofessionalsandbythepublicatlarge. Notsurprisingly,therefore,elderabusedoesnotgetthe same media attention as child abuse. The bottom line is thatolderpeoplearenotasacceptablyemotiveaschildren. Nevertheless, progress is being made in this important subjectanditmaybeusefultothereaderinitiallytodiscuss some of the key developments in recent years before turning attention to the plight of male victims. Terminology and developments In the 1970s and 1980s the terms ‘granny-bashing’ and ‘granny-battering’wereingeneraluse.Atthattimenoone was offended by the term but interestingly there was no mention of ‘grandad-bashing’! Some professionals had startedtoacknowledgethatolderpeoplewerebeingmis- treated or harmed. Two geriatricians working with older people highlighted the problem as early as 1975 (Baker 1975;Burston1975,1977),buttherewaslittlepublicor professional reaction to their work. The real pioneer in givingprominence totheproblem was MervynEastman, whowasemployedasasocialworkerwithspecialrespon- sibilitiesforolderpeople.Heusedtheterm‘oldageabuse’ and defined it as: thesystematicmaltreatment,physical,emotionalorfi- nancial,ofanelderlyperson…thismaytaketheform ofphysicalassault,threateningbehaviour,neglectand abandonment or sexual assault. (Eastman 1984, p.3) INTRODUCTION 9 Eastman’sworkfocusedverymuchonthetheoryofcarer’s stressindomesticsettings.Thisranparallelwithresearch whichwasbeingundertakeninNorthAmericaatthetime. Asearlyas1981,elderabusehadbeenreferredtointhe USSenateas‘anationalepidemic’(quotedinRiley1989 p.1). In the UK, recognition of and progress towards ad- dressingthissocialproblemwereslow.Amajorconference wasconvenedbytheBritishGeriatricsSocietyin1988to raise awareness abouttheproblem andatthattimeafew socialservicesdepartmentshadstartedtodeveloppolicies andproceduresonelderabuse(Tomlin1989).KentSocial ServicesDepartmentwasthefirsttoproduceguidancefor practitionersandmanyauthoritiessubsequentlyfollowed suit(KentSocialServicesDepartment1987).Intheearly 1990s there was some debate about whether ‘mistreat- ment’wasamoreappropriatetermthan‘abuse’whencon- sidering how older people were harmed. Since then, the adoptionoftheterm‘elderabuse’hasbeenwidespread.In 1992 the Social Services Inspectorate produced Con- frontingElder Abuse, which presented findings of research whichhadbeenundertakenintwoLondonboroughs(De- partment of Health 1992). As a result of that research, practice guidelines were produced in the following year entitled No Longer Afraid: The Safeguard of Older People in DomesticSettings(DepartmentofHealth1993).Thedefini- tion of elder abuse was set broadly enough to include neglectandsexualabuse,neitherofwhichhadbeengiven much attention previously because of the assumption of their low incidence:
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