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      Prevalence of elder abuse and victim-related risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic in China

      research-article
      1 , , 1 , 2
      BMC Public Health
      BioMed Central
      COVID-19, Elder abuse, Risk factor, China

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          Abstract

          Background

          With the accelerated aging of the Chinese population, elder abuse has become a serious social problem. As COVID-19 has had a very large impact on economic development and lifestyle in China, it has also affected elder abuse. The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of elder abuse in China during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify changes in risk factors for elder abuse in the context of COVID-19.

          Methods

          We designed a cross-sectional study. In Hunan Province, a face-to-face questionnaire survey was conducted among elderly people over 65 years of age. To ensure the consistency of the measurement standards, we used the elder abuse questionnaire from the “Third Survey on Chinese Women’s Social Status.” According to related research, we selected 10 victim-related risk factors as independent variables. A logistic regression model was established to analyze the relationship between the independent variables and the four kinds of abuse.

          Results

          We collected 10,362 samples from Hunan Province. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of financial abuse and neglect was significantly higher than that in 2010. Income had a significant impact on the four types of abuse. The lower the income was, the greater the risk of abuse. Moreover, factors such as an older age, being a woman, a lower cognitive ability, and not having a cohabiting spouse increased the possibility of abuse. The greater the number of children was, the greater the risks of physical abuse, financial abuse, and elder neglect. Seniors with higher education levels, those who frequently participated in social activities, and those with religious beliefs were less likely to suffer abuse.

          Conclusions

          During the COVID-19 epidemic, the prevalence of elder abuse in China has increased, which may be related to economic instability and social distancing measures. Increasing the income of the elderly and giving them more social support are important measures to reduce the prevalence of elder abuse.

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          Most cited references37

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Loneliness and Health in Older Adults: A Mini-Review and Synthesis.

          Increasing evidence suggests that perceived social isolation or loneliness is a major risk factor for physical and mental illness in later life. This review assesses the status of research on loneliness and health in older adults. Key concepts and definitions of loneliness are identified, and the prevalence, correlates, and health effects of loneliness in older individuals are reviewed. Theoretical mechanisms that underlie the association between loneliness and health are also described, and illustrative studies examining these mechanisms are summarized. Intervention approaches to reduce loneliness in old age are highlighted, and priority recommendations for future research are presented.
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            • Record: found
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            • Article: not found
            Is Open Access

            Elder abuse prevalence in community settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

            Elder abuse is recognised worldwide as a serious problem, yet quantitative syntheses of prevalence studies are rare. We aimed to quantify and understand prevalence variation at the global and regional levels.
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              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Elder mistreatment in the United States: prevalence estimates from a nationally representative study.

              The National Social Life, Health and Aging Project is the first population-based, nationally representative study to ask older adults about their recent experience of mistreatment. This article provides estimates of mistreatment by family members and examines the association of mistreatment with demographic and health characteristics. We selected community-residing participants aged 57 to 85 using a multistage area probability design. Of those eligible, 3,005 participated in the study, for a weighted response rate of 75.5%. We asked respondents if in the past year they had experienced mistreatment in the following domains: verbal, financial, and physical. We asked those who reported mistreatment about their relationship to the person responsible. In all, 9% of older adults reported verbal mistreatment, 3.5% financial mistreatment, and 0.2% physical mistreatment by a family member. Odds of verbal mistreatment were higher for women and those with physical vulnerabilities and were lower for Latinos than for Whites. Odds of financial mistreatment were higher for African Americans and lower for Latinos than for Whites and were lower for those with a spouse or romantic partner than for those without partners. Few older adults report mistreatment by family members, with older adults quite insulated from physical mistreatment.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                1183772557@qq.com
                Journal
                BMC Public Health
                BMC Public Health
                BMC Public Health
                BioMed Central (London )
                1471-2458
                8 June 2021
                8 June 2021
                2021
                : 21
                : 1096
                Affiliations
                [1 ]GRID grid.67293.39, Law School, Hunan University, ; Changsha, Hunan Province P.R. China
                [2 ]GRID grid.411427.5, ISNI 0000 0001 0089 3695, School of Mathematics and Statistics, Hunan Normal University, ; Changsha, Hunan Province P.R. China
                Article
                11175
                10.1186/s12889-021-11175-z
                8185499
                34103014
                cac7a81d-4bb0-4dfd-ae2e-8974d453429f
                © The Author(s) 2021

                Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

                History
                : 7 January 2021
                : 31 May 2021
                Categories
                Research
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2021

                Public health
                covid-19,elder abuse,risk factor,china
                Public health
                covid-19, elder abuse, risk factor, china

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