Viewpoints of older people living in Rahim Khan, Bukan toward elderly abuse

Abstract

Background: Elder abuse is one or the major social health problems in modern communities. It has significant effects on decreasing the health and security among this subgroup of population. This study aims to investigate the viewpoints of older people toward the elder abuse in a Kurdish rural community in Iranian Kurdistan. Materials and Methods: This research was conducted based on qualitative approach. Using purposive sampling, 38 elder female and 18 male were selected. Date was collected through Individual interviews as well as focus group discussions. Conventional content analysis was implemented for analyzing data manually. Results: regarding the forms of elder abuse in Kurdish rural areas, five themes emerged including interactive elder abuse, psychological abuse, financial abuse, neglect, abandonment; and in terms of explaining the effective factors on elder abuse, four themes emerged including individual contexts, socio-cultural contexts, economic contexts, and governance contexts. Conclusion: The findings showed that personal conditions as well as social transformation due to the modernization were the main factors which facilitate elder abuse and neglect. Empowering the ethical norms in the family and society as well as adopting supportive laws by the government may help eliminating some forms of neglect, abuse and violence against older people.