The SMPCP Elder Abuse Prevention Network were thrilled to have Commissioner for Senior Victorians and Ambassador for Elder Abuse Prevention, Gerard Mansour officially launch Preventing Elder Abuse: a literature review for the SMPCP Elder Abuse Prevention Network today. The document is a rapid review of primary prevention literature as it relates to elder abuse.
It sought to examine four key questions:
- What does the current literature tell us that is relevant to primary prevention in the context of elder abuse?
- What is the intention of prevention in managing elder abuse?
- Do the current strategies that are used to prevent violence against women and their children (as part of the broader work in family violence) apply easily to preventing elder abuse?
- What should be included in a primary prevention framework for elder abuse specifically?
Issues such as definitions, prevalence, risk factors, the relationship with family violence, drivers and prevention strategies are all explored. The paper concludes with four recommendations for future work which relate to the development of a specific elder abuse prevention framework, investment in primary prevention strategies and policy and evaluation development.
