NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... s from the local Adult Protective Service (APS) agency responsible for receiving and investigating reports in each county; and (2) reports from approximately 1, 100 'sentinels'-specially trained individuals in a variety of community agencies having frequent contact with the elderly. Many sentinels were mandatory or voluntary reporters of elder abuse, as defined by state laws. The sentinel approach to collecting data is an alternative to more costly general population surveys and has been used successfully in all three National Incidence Studies of Child Abuse commissioned by the federal government. This method was pioneered nearly 20 years ago by West, APHSA's collaborative partner for the NEAIS study, in the nation's first-ever incidence study on child abuse.
The approach is based upon the hypothesis that officially reported cases of abuse represent only a small proportion of actual episodes of abuse in the community. Establishing Definitions Historically, a major impediment to collecting uniform data on elder maltreatment nationally has been a lack of comparability of definitions of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. In addition to differences among states, recognized elder experts themselves continue to disagree on definitions. Accordingly, the first task of NEAIS was to develop standardized definitions of elder maltreatment, thus ensuring greater comparability and reliability of results. The process involved several steps: . Analysis of Current State Definitions-The existing state laws defining abuse, neglect, and exploitation were compiled and analyzed for all states and territories, and the most common components of the definitions across states were selected as potential definitions...
Convening of Local Roundtables-Two roundtables of representative local professionals who deal with elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation were convened to obtain firsthand, community-level information on how elder abuse is detected, reported, and investigated, which aided in the development of the standardized definitions... Consensus Meeting-A group of elder abuse experts and researchers, including NCEA and NEAIS advisory committee members, provided an in-depth analysis of the draft definitions and revised and prepared them for pilot-testing. The final definitions included: . Physical abuse was defined as the use of physical force that may result in bodily injury, physical pain, or impairment. Physical punishments of any kind were examples of physical abuse... Sexual abuse was defined as non-consensual sexual contact of any kind with an elderly person...
Emotional or psychological abuse was defined as the infliction of anguish, pain, or distress. Financial or material exploitation was defined as the illegal or improper use of an elder's funds, property, or assets... Abandonment was defined as the desertion of an elderly person by an individual who had physical custody or otherwise had assumed responsibility for providing care for an elder or by a person with physical custody of an elder... Neglect was defined as the refusal or failure to fulfill any part of a person's obligations or duties to an elder...
Self-neglect was characterized as the behaviors of an elderly person that threaten his / her own health or safety. The definition of self-neglect excludes a situation in which a mentally competent older person (who understands the consequences of his / her decisions) makes a conscious and voluntary decision to engage in acts that threaten his / her health or safety... Pilot-Testing -Two Adult Protective Services agencies and seven local sentinel agencies (in the Washington, D. C. , area, but not involved in the study) field pilot-tested the definitions and data collection instruments, which were revised based on the results of the tests. (The full definition and signs and symptoms for each type of abuse and neglect are provided in detail in the full report. ) Sampling Counties and Evaluation of Sample NEAIS employed a stratified, multistage sample of 20 nationally representative counties, selected with probability proportional to the number of elders living in these areas.
The counties were stratified by five variables: geographic region, metropolitan area, elder abuse reporting requirements (mandatory and non mandatory), percentage of elders, and percentage of poor elders. The use of the probability proportional to size method ensures an approximately self-weighting sample-that is, every abused elder in the county has approximately the same chance of being identified, regardless of location, when the measure of size is the number of elders in the county. This methodology produced a sample of 20 counties in 15 states, with five counties in each of the four major geographic regions of the country. The sample also was reflective of the other four stratification variables. Because the sample was based on 20 out of about 3, 000 counties in the country, it was important to examine the accuracy of the elder abuse estimates using outside sources, to the extent possible. The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), in spring 1997, conducted A Survey of State APS and Aging Agencies on Domestic Abuse for FY 95 and 96.
All states shared counts of all domestic elder abuse reports to state report-receiving agencies and these data were compiled to be comparable to that collected by the NEAIS. Using rigorous estimation methods, data were weighted to represent national totals and annualized. The numbers of cases in the data obtained from the states by NCEA were very close to the NEAIS national estimates. The total number of actual reports obtained from the states by NCEA was only 1. 4 percent greater than the NEAIS estimated total. The statistical procedures used to produce the national estimates in this NEAIS appear to be extremely accurate. Sampling Sentinel Agencies and Sentinels One of the most important elements of the NEAIS was the selection of four types of community agencies from which community sentinels would be selected: law enforcement agencies (sheriff's departments and municipal police departments); hospitals (including public health departments); elder care providers (adult day care centers, senior centers, and home health care agencies); financial institutions (banks).
Using the best sources of agency listings for each sentinel type, a sample was drawn for each of the 20 sampled counties, usually averaging 12 - 13 agencies per county. Two banks per county were selected to ensure that possible incidents of financial exploitation of elders would be identified. The remaining agencies were distributed among the other categories of agencies proportional to the number of agencies available in each county, resulting in a total of 248 sentinel agencies in the 20 counties participating in the study. A rigorous methodology was used to select the actual sentinels within the designated sentinel agencies. To be eligible, individuals had to have frequent contact with the elderly and had to be able to identify abuse if they encountered it. A computer software program was used to randomly pick every nth sentinel from a roster of eligible sentinel candidates provided by the agency.
The number of sentinels selected per agency was typically four to six, with a total of about 50 sentinels per county. This resulted in a total of 1, 158 sentinels participating in the study across the 20 counties. The designation of Adult Protective Services (APS) agencies, on the other hand, is made by each state, and the designated agency varies by state. For the 20 sampled counties, the distribution of APS agencies participating in the study were: 10 in the state human services agency; six in the state unit on aging, but within the human services agency; and four in the state unit on aging and outside the human services agency. Data Forms and Training The data collection forms for both the APS caseworkers and sentinel agency staff were designed to be easy to complete and to require as few references as possible to other documents. As with the abuse and neglect definitions, several versions of the instruments were extensively pilot-tested with local APS and service agency staff.
The APS and sentinel data forms were identical with two exceptions: the APS instrument included sections for documenting the source of the report to the agency and for the disposition of the case following investigation (i. e. , substantiated or unsubstantiated), while the sentinel forms did not. In order to increase valid and reliable reporting across all 20 counties, an innovative approach was developed for training sentinels and APS agency personnel using a specially designed participant guide book and instructional videos. The training focused on identifying elder abuse according to the standardized definitions and related signs and symptoms, and recording data on the specially designed forms. Additionally, an ' 800 ' telephone number was available for APS and sentinel participants to call study staff with any questions about data collection procedures or client eligibility. Data Collection, Receipt, and Management Sentinel and APS data collection took place over an eight-week period.
Starting in January 1996, all reporters in one or two counties started data collection each month, according to a preset schedule. Staggering reporting periods throughout this 12 -month period (calendar year 1996) allowed the study to account for possible seasonal variations that might occur in elder abuse. Sentinel data collection procedures were similar to APS agencies; however, sentinels were asked to forward reports of suspected cases of elder abuse to the NEAIS research staff as soon as possible after observing the suspected abuse. To encourage candid, confidential reporting, the designated coordinator in each sentinel agency did not review or edit forms completed by the individual sentinels. Sentinels also did not attempt to substantiate incidents of abuse. Sentinels, however, were carefully trained to screen out incidents that would not be supported as elder abuse or neglect.
In contrast, all reports of suspected abuse received by the APS agencies were investigated and a determination of substantiation or non substantiation made, as required by the laws of each state. It should be noted, however, that an APS agency's determination of non substantiation of a report of abuse or neglect does not mean conclusively that abuse or neglect did not happen. Rather, non substantiation of a report can mean that the level of proof required by that state was not met, despite indications that abuse or neglect may have occurred. NEAIS staff received and reviewed all submitted data collection forms for completeness and called the sending agency coordinators to discuss any missing or unclear data.
Both APS and sentinel data forms required respondents to provide a brief narrative describing the maltreatment events. This maltreatment information was evaluated according to the study definitions and eligibility criteria, and reports that did not meet the study definitions were excluded from the database (e. g. , victim lived in institutional setting; incident not based on common definitions). Un duplication The formal process of eliminating duplication in survey research data is called 'un duplication. ' The NEAIS was interested in determining the number of new unduplicated elderly persons who were abused or neglected during 1996 in order to arrive at estimates of reported and unreported abuse and neglect. Some...
Free research essays on topics related to: abuse or neglect, elder abuse, elderly person, abuse neglect, abuse and neglect
Research essay sample on Abuse Or Neglect Abuse And Neglect
